Doggie Heaven

When we first moved here we found "doggie heaven" the dog park by our (old and new) house. It's a 46 acre off leash park with river access for swimming and plenty of space for running. We are bad doggie parents and haven't been there since we moved back to the east side. Until tonight! Evan and I needed some "no electronics, no interuptions" time and we took both boys, the 2 legged and the 4 legged, to the park and they both loved it equally.


Walter loved running around and chasing the dogs. There is a model/electronic plane park near the Doggie park and Walter kept watching the "airplane in the sky" and screaming with glee. We had such a great time.


Walter is having a bit of a time adjusting back to only 2 hour naps. He has been soooo tired all week. It has made bed time easier though!

PSA: Fare sale

Alaska Airlines is having a fare sale from Sept thr Dec 16th. Travel Mon-Thurs or Saturday applies. For instance, from Chi to Sea is $99 each way!




(We are considering making a trip that direction in November now although after October we need to buy 3 tickets)

week 2

Week 2 has gone off with out a hitch. My last spinning class was canceled so I was forced to run last night.

Tuesday: 3.1 M 23:57
Wednesday: 3.1M 24:18

I seem to have come down with a nasty case of shin splints. Hopefully things will improve with a little strecting!

SUCH a workout

Day 3 and all is going well, except for the unexpected snow storm (if you can call it that) Thursday night postponing my run till Friday. I shoveled for 40 minutes which was a work out of it's own.

My real complaint is the city of U City unable to grasp the concept of shoveling. I have never been so sore after a 3 mile run in my life. I had to stop at one point running up Hanley, can you believe it? I could not handle the snow on the sidewalks anymore so I altered my route a bit to take streets, which were not alwasy better, and ended up at 3.3 miels in 29:13. Definately not a great run. Imagine running in sand uphill?!? That's what I was dealing with. It wasn' slippery most of the time, just thick snow impossible to lift your feet up in.

Poor me :)
Hopefully the park is cleared today for my 6 mile run with Matt. Yeah for a running partner!

SUCH a workout

Day 3 and all is going well, except for the unexpected snow storm (if you can call it that) Thursday night postponing my run till Friday. I shoveled for 40 minutes which was a work out of it's own.

My real complaint is the city of U City unable to grasp the concept of shoveling. I have never been so sore after a 3 mile run in my life. I had to stop at one point running up Hanley, can you believe it? I could not handle the snow on the sidewalks anymore so I altered my route a bit to take streets, which were not alwasy better, and ended up at 3.3 miels in 29:13. Definately not a great run. Imagine running in sand uphill?!? That's what I was dealing with. It wasn' slippery most of the time, just thick snow impossible to lift your feet up in.

Poor me :)
Hopefully the park is cleared today for my 6 mile run with Matt. Yeah for a running partner!

Ouch!

Cold weather hurts my lungs. I better get used to it!
4.4 mile Wydown loop, 39:54. OK time, should be better but I;ve been slacking.
Long sleeves, wind breaker, hat and gloves. Need thinner breathable gloves, everything else was perfect.

I had to miss spinning yesterday because of work. Shit happens I guess. I'm over it now and I know it was the right decision because helping Karen yesterday will take me farther in my career than 1 spinning class will take me physicaly. Priorities....remember that. And don't fret over the things you can't change.

Hopefeully I'll get a few miles in MN this weekend, if I can stand the cold!

Operation SPOT 5K

3.2 miles
~25:13 (unofficial time)
Ran with Case, he wanted to win, and kept pulling me past people. It was a beautiful day and great crowd. Approx 59 degrees. Short sleeves and shorts were perfect.

I'm gonna do it....

1) I just signed up for the turkey trot!

2) I'm biking out to Evan's hockey game. 32 miles by car on the highway, I'm expecting about 35 miles by bike. We'll see! I'm allowing myself 2.5 hours to get there and Evan has the bike rack in his car to bring me and my bike home! Wish me luck!

boo :(

3.7 miles in 32 min flat. 8:34 splits. Boo.....

When I add mileage I increase my time. That is NOT supposed to happen. Tomorrow a light day, I think my legs are tired but Monday, my time BETTER NOT go up.

How is this going to work?

Tuesday night's run was good vs. bad. My standard just over 3 mile course, coming in just over 24 minutes. Not up to par with last week's 3 mile course but still better than my average on a longer (4-5+ miles) so it's still on the right track but I didn't feel like I was pushing as hard as I could so that is a good thing?!?

Spinning last night was fablous. We had a sub again, Julie, I love her. She pushes us so much harder than we go normaly. I leave unable to walk and loving it. Today I was even tight walking up the stairs at the metro station. Julie had us do a new type of stretching last night. I've always known this but she kept me after to tell me I need to work on my posture and body position. She suggested Yoga or Pilates, which I've always enjoyed but since i started running more seriously (a year ago!) I've barely thought about Yoga (OK so that's not totaly true as I have 2 video's I've borrowed from Shelley and have been known to Tivo a class or Two from FitTV). So, on my 30 minute drive home last night, since my cell phone was dead, I had no option but to think and I came up with a new plan which involves 2 nights a week of short, fast runs. One of those nights will be Tuesday and I will do Yoga when I'm done, and the other will be Thursday where I will finish with a few laps in the pool to work on my newly acquired swimming skiills (far from it but I learned how I'm "supposed" to swim, lets see if I can actualy do it now). Wednesday is just spinning until I'm more conditioned and Monday will be a longer run, increasing my mileage accordinly to get to my goals. Then on the weekends I want to get in a nice long slow run and another day in the pool.

I've also been going out far too much and that needs to stop. I do not need to cut out a work out for happy hour(s) 2 or 3 nights a week. Although I will say in the past 2 weeks each night I've gone out I've done so AFTER I got in a quick run!

I've got a month until December, which starts marathon training full time. Hopefully this schedule will get me through the next few weeks so I have a habit developed by the time that starts! Hard to believe it's that late in the year already! Slow down time!

So there it is, a new plan.

change in plans

I had a PFG meet and greet at the Frontenac Hilton so I rode with Karen directly from work. Evan did not want to come get me during rush hour so I had to take a cab home. Now I have to go get my car from the metro station, so I'm going to run there and then drive back. I'll report back on mileage.

Back on Track

After a long haitus from updating, and sporatic work outs, I'm back on track! I did not do the St. Peter Rec Plex triathlon because I came down with a chest infection. (I did not know this at the time but determined it later, good thing I passed!)

I'm still going to spinning weekly. The work outs keep getting harder which makes them better for me, I am looking into finding some place closer so that I can go more than once a week. I'm back on the running kick too. Goals: 5x 8 Min miles. How I'm doing so far? The 2 days I ran this week I did a 3 mile loop. Monday: 22:17 and 22:28. I will give all of this credit to spinning which requires you to work outside your comfort zone. Running to me before was always just something I did. I would run but never really pushed myself aerobicly. I would sweat and I would be tired and I would push my distance but aside from the couple of weeks of sprints I did this summer, speed training was just not in the works. This is changing! I need to feel like I'm working for something and this will do it! So, I'm on my way to my goal. Tonight I'm going to try to run 3.5 miles with 7:45 splits (27min 7.5 seconds). Can it be done?

The bike situation today

Big Shark called, my bike is ready to be ridden. I forgot that the Mo Dept of Revenue and Finance owes me $300 + which will greatly help my 'new bike fund' so I've decided to hold off. This month is going to be exceptional expensive with the trip to NYC so I'm ready to not have to break the bank. Ahhhhh bummer. I was really looking forward to sporting a new bike. At least when the time comes the decision will be a lot easier!

I think I'm going to skip spinning on Wednesday. We have to be at the airport (MLI) at 5 am on Thursday so if I go to class, that doesn't get us out of here till 8pm which brings us to bettendorf at midnight and then once we get TO NYC we have a full day so I don't want to go on no sleep (although we could sleep on the plane and in the airport)

I'm off to bed (yes at 9:30) it was a long day with the mean girls from work. I've got a lot to do tomorrow since I've got 4 days off comin my way.

On a side note, Evan's proposal went SUPER WELL today and I am starting to get really excited about the "next steps" for us. This was the first major step in actualy finishing his PhD (OK so it's actualy a DrS) and getting OUT OF WASH U!!! Wooo Hoooo. Next step, thesis defense! It's really just a "yeah OK you did good" type of thing. When he leaves the room he knows if it was good enough or not!

I'm so proud of him we should have celebrated but we had frozen pizza and a bottle of wine. We are boring, what can I say.

The training continues

I had a nice run on Thursday! I was actualy sore on Friday and still a little today. I did a little over 5 1/2 miles but I was working pretty hard. I can't remember the last time I worked that hard.

Yesterday I continued the bike quest. I went to Big Shark, turns out the owner is from the QC. Fancy that. He asked me if knew some random names, what like I know everyone there? Didn't help me much with a discount though. The bike I wanted to try was not assemb led in my size so I had to have them build it and they will call me when it's done. Felt F90 the best thing about this bike is the Carbon Fork. I'm beginning to think I must have this. I went to the Trek store and again, loved the guys there. They put me on practicly every bike there and then I took one out to the parking lot where I feel over and scrapped it up pretty bad. The good news is that I may not have to decide which bike to buy, I may have to buy this one! Evan says we are not buying a bike that I scrapped up out of principal. They should not have let me ride it if they were not prepared for me to fall and scratch it. I told him I was nervouse to use clipless pedals, he should have listened and not pressured me into trying it. Of course it's easy when the bike is on it's trainer. It's not going anywhere! The manager is supposed to call me today.

I'm getting overwhelmed again by all of this. I now want a grossly expensive bike and just cannot justify that right now. So, I'm back to thinking if I can't get what I want then I shouldn't get one at all right now. I'll see how I feel after I ride the felt. That one might be my best bet, but I really prefer the smaller bike shops than Big Shark and Mesa. SO MUCH nicer!

Spinning day II

Spinning was MUCH better tonight. I've been getting a pain in my foot. Instructor (Nicole) says it's from my shoes. Typicaly running type shoes aren't good for biking, the souls aren't hard enough. I think I knew this but didn't think I wanted to buy biking shoes a/because clips scare me, b/ aren't they expensive? The spinning bikes have clips so I think I may look and see if I can get some and try them out in spinnin only until I feel comfortable I won't fall on my face.

We cleared up the hour vs. 45 minute problem and today was definately 1hour. My God was it 1 hour. I wanted it to be over 10 minutes into it but, as spinning normaly goes, I loved the feeling I had at the end! Nothing in the world including running 20 mile training run, makes me feel like I got that good of a work out as spinning does. I think the Marathon did and the Tri came close but I LOVE the spinning feeling.

I'm off to bed! Long tired day.

I know I shouldn't but I want to

The bike I'm going to buy :)

Jeff from Touring cyclist called today to say that I never stopped by to try out the Fuji. Well, he talked to his boss and they will give it to me for an ADDITIONAL $50 off what he quoted me. Not that much more I know but it was already a great deal. I'm going to come up with the money somehow....hopefully......Lord willing.
I got one of those forwards today that I normaly pay a minimal amount of attention to. Here is what it said:

" Have you ever received something wonderful that you didn't >even ask for, like money in the mail, a debt that had mysteriously been >cleared, or a coupon to a department store where you had just seen >something you needed, but couldn't afford? THAT'S GOD knowing the desires >of your heart."

So, see, God wants me to get this bike (any way I can justify it, right?)

Bikes

I want a new bike. I should have never gone to look at new bikes because now I want one more. It's just the wrong time for a new bike
a/ we are leaving for New York in ONE WEEK
b/Evan, Jeane, Conrad, and my mom, the (new) baby all have birthday's with in the month, and then the Megan and Ethan not too long after that, and then Christmas. Not the right time to be dropping upwards of $1000 on a bike.

Oh but it is the right time for a new bike....all of the 2005's or on clearance and all of the bike shops are having sales! Plus the 2006 lines are more expensive this year!

Mesa has the Specialized bike I want, on sale, but not in my size. Their sale is only on in-store bikes. So, that tells me I should not buy that bike. They do have 2 other bikes I'm semi interested in but not as much as the Specialized. Bonus for Mesa, you get 10% of the value of the bike in store credit no matter when you buy. I could get some cushioned but pants, but I also want a heart rate monitor. So I go to Touring Cyclist next. They have 3 viable options, Trek, Fuji, and an off brand. All 3 of those are at least $300 off the Specialized price with out the sale. A bonus, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the guys at Touring. SO much nicer and more laid back. They have less of a selection and their store is not as "pretty" which actualy makes me excited because I'm not paying a premium price for my bike so they can hang it on a fancy rope from the ceiling. I still plan to go to Big Shark (although they were mean to me before) to try out their Specialized bike. If they have my size and I can get them to honor Mesa's price, I'll consider this idea again, although my gut tells me "no" and I'm trying to make better decisions on things like this, but how can I say no? When I do buy a new bike, it will be hundreds of dollars more expensive! I'm getting a bike next spring at the latest, Seem silly to me to put this off for 6 months only to pay MORE money, but I know that I really should. What to do, what to do.

Somethings to ponder

Events to consider:

St. Peters Triplex triathlon. Weekend of October 8th
10 Mile run, Holly Hills. Weekend before Thanksgiving.

TOE:(

I bet I have worn open toe sandals to bars at least a hundred times in my life not to mention the handful of girls I know that do also. This weekend in Chicago, some mean boy stepped on my foot and tore off my big toe nail:( He isn't mean because of this, he didn't do it on purpose, but he is mean becasue he yelled at me for getting blood on him. My bad, you stepped on ME and I got blood on YOU, MUST be my fault, right?


Jackie went to the bartender to ask him for ice and a bandaid and he got all freaked out that someone got hurt and came over to tend to me. He asked if I needed anything and someone said, yeah, something strong to kill the pain so he brought me 2 shots of a mysterious brown liquid. Luckily we had already rallyed the troops and were "ready to bounce" so no one partook in the shot taking, but the bartended at Excalibur on Ontario gets an A+ for effort! (and we managed to avoid the $12 cover and get in for free!). Successful bachelorette party complete with the after 4am roll in and 7 am roll out on Amtrak (leading to less than 3 hours of sleep)

I guess I'll take a few days of running for the toe to feel better and then see how it goes??

Spinning

Last night was the first spinning class... Registered through SLCC (Local community college) to take the class at Wellbridge, which is a very nice gym where Holly works out. There were only 8 ppl there last night, class holds 25 and it says it's full. It's supposed to be an hour long. I registered for it thinking it's an hour long (6:45-7:45)......It was 45 minutes. Teach said that she has a yoga class at 7:30 so it *can't* go till 7:45. However, she also thought the class was only 6 weeks long, it's 12 weeks.

I was diassapointed by the intensity but I will give it another shot. 1) it was the first class and since there were only 8 of us, she helped each person set up their bike and went through E V E R Y T H I N G with us, hand position, bike position, interval vs climbing vs endurance. 2) I thought it was an hour so on our first (and last) climb I was saving something for what I assumed would be a second climb, however there wasn't one because the class was over! Maybe next time a/ there will not be the instruction period to eat up time and/or b/ I will be prepared for only 45 minutes and get my work out in sufficently in that time. Spinning is only as good of a work out as you make of it!

Where have I been??

This summer just slipped right away from us. We started getting busy in July with a trip to Indiana to spend the weekend with Conrad and Abbie and catch a wedding while there. I have since switched jobs also. News of the impending lay off came in June and July was busy scouring the competition for new job leads and trying to figure out where I would be spending my days from here on out. We returned to Bettendorf the last weekend in July to run the Bix. Evan did GREAT! I was very happy that he was able to do much better than he (or I) thought. We stayed together the entire time and although I would have liked to do better, we were not competing on any level so we had a great time. Evan has also been keeping up running since getting out at least once per week to keep in some sort of shape.

The first of August I started a new job. My first week was cut short by a trip to Vail Colorado for Beth Lischer's wedding with was a wonderful time, aside from Evan's temporary illness which prevented him from having the best time of his life on Saturday but he did get to have lots of fun on Friday evening. After returning from Vail, Evan spent a weekend in Chicago with the guys and I enjoyed some much anticipated R&R only to follow the next weekend with my first (and hopefully not last) triathlon. Conrad and Abbie made the trip down from Muncie to participate with me and Chuck and Jeane and Evan spectated and cheered us on! We immensely enjoyed their visit. Friday night we had a great dinner and took C & A to some of our favorite establishments. Saturday we took the dogs to the river to swim a bit. We also drove the course which was not such a good idea since the course freaked me out! Saturday night dinner at PF Changs, one of my favorites but we had very slow everything. The event was pretty much what I expected....it sucked. There was some drama with my registration preventing me from starting where I would have liked but in all fairness, my swimming was really bad had I started where I wanted I would have been passed by anyone who entered the pool while I was in it. The bike course was the complete opposite of flat. I'm not sure it was flat at any point! The run had 2 killer hills but I managed to rip through them with only my desire to finish the race in one piece. C&A did very well. Conrad enjoyed his first experience and is looking forward to next season, as am I. I wish you could race in the fall. My concentration is to increase my endurance for swimming. I don't care if I'm fast, I just don't want to be completely wiped out by the time I get out of the water. I definitely want to do an open water swim next year and up the distance. I am also doing another triathlon in the spring so that should get me in great shape. I want to do this one right, I'm not walking at all during the training (where as last time I welcomed walk breaks) unless it's a necessity due to injury or some other un avoidable circumstance.

As for now, I enjoy leisurely runs when I can fit them in! I'm getting a new bike sometime soon. mostly I don't like the position of things on my bike. It is uncomfortable and heavy. I plan to keep it around in case I want to do any trail riding with Evan which is possibly if we are ever in St. Louis for more than 5 days at a time.

We hit the road again for the next 2 weekends for weddings, Evan in the QC, me in Des Moines, and them both of us Omaha. Next weekend it's off to Chicago for a bachelorette party for me and Evan enjoys some R&R at home. His thesis proposal is scheduled for Monday the 19th! We have 1 free weekend in there before heading to NYC/Long Island for, yep you guessed it, a wedding! After that the baby is here so I'll spend a few days in the QC to help Amy out with her girls as she adjusts to having another baby in the house. We only have 1 more wedding after that, the middle of October and a shower for Amy and they we are STAYING PUT until Thanksgiving. Mark my words! (unless we catch a hawkeye game in there).

Look for more from me now. I vow to update this thing with what's going on!

Cheers!
S

Weekly updates now? Perhaps!

This week has been semi-productive. Monday night I hit the road to run 4 miles. Tuesday I met the BFC for the tuesday night weekly ride. I completed 19.5 miles! It felt so awesome. The trail was less than awesome. For anyone from St. Louis, I left from the landing heading north. Yes, north. I was seriously frightened for the first 2 mile that some one would kidnap me. I'm still in shock that there is actualy a "bike path" here and that it gets used! The next couple of miles had a great view of the river to the east and a number of junk yards to the west. About 7 miles into it, I started to enjoy the scenery on both sides but still not a high comfort level. I think that I will try to drive north and start from there if I decide to ride this path again!

Wednesday I took the day off (there are more and more of these lately) because I had plans for happy hour with the girls from work. Thursday my husband and I ran FOUR MILES!! It was the longest he'd run yet since he started training a month ago. We didn't run till after 10 pm so it was nice.

Tonight I came home from work and my husband offered me some home brew, how can I pass that up?!? So no work out again besides the fact that it is about 100 degrees out (literly) so who can get motivated to work out in that? Tomorrow it's a pool work out. I'm excited for it, it's been almost a week, and then next week, I'm working a reduced schedule because of interviews so I will get back on schedule of 5-6 work outs a week. I think I've actualy only done that once since I made the new rule.

more resting? Not possible

Last week, carry into this weekend, I was very busy. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I swam 3 days last week. Followed by 3 more days of rest, Thursday, driving to Munci, Friday, in Indianapolis/Muncie for an interveiw, Saturday running errands, a bridal shower, getting caught up on my rest which brings me to Sunday

Activity: Swimming
Time: 1 hour
Distance approx 1500M

MUCH better this time. I guess all I needed was some concentrated effort last week as well as a few days off. I read some articles which boosted my spirits, mostly about how difficult it is for runner and bikers to make the transition to swimming, and why, so I felt sorta normal, and the best ways to improve in the process. I found these tips helpful and as such, had a much better experience. I was less tired and more willing to keep going. I met a scary boy who I'm now convinced is stalking me (it's only been a day, I'm sure I'm over reacting). He wants to be my training partner. I politly declined saying I'm not good at holding to a commitment and vary my workouts so much I would be no good at meeting him at set times. He just rubbed me the wrong way and made me feel uncomfortable.

Today:
Activity: Running
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34 minutes
I'm pretty pleased with the run today. I felt tired and like I was barely moving but am pleased with my time. I literaly ran into scary man when I was leaving to run. He told me he'd see me tomorrow at the pool, so I will be swimming in the morning to avoid him. Augh, i hope this doesn't continue!

I have a bad problem, I "rest" too much. I took Saturday off because I was busy with the dogs and got quite a work out at the park doing yard work.

Sunday:
Activity: Bike
Time: over and hour
Distance :17 miles

Monday:
Off
Evan returned from his trip and I wanted to spend some time with him. We went to dinner together

Tuesday and Wednesday:
Activity: Swimming
Distance: 1000 Meter
Time: 45 minutes

Swimming is definately my weakness. I have a new plan which involves swimming in the mornings at least 4 days a week until I feel comfortable in the pool. I haven't even done any drills the last 2 days, I've just been swimming, and not quickly at all. I've been sharing a lane and it's rather discouraging. So....I will keep working till I get better. I've not run since Friday and I've been craving it. Weird I know since prior to that I had no desire to run.

Tomorrow I take off to Indy for a second interview at OneAmerica. I want the Account Rep position in St. Louis but they are interviewing me for 2 positions, one in Indy Retirement Plan Consultant, and the Account Rep position. None of my interview suits fit so I had to borrow from Shelley. Remarkable, they fit!

That's it from me. More when I have a job (hopefully) after the weekend.

It's Finaly Friday

Activity: Running
Time: 34 min
Distance:3.9 miles

I just started out running to run. I wanted to get some hills in so started out the 1.5 out that gives me a 3 mile hill run and then instead of turning around, I turned right. Since running, and then biking I have learned most of the streets in a 5 mile radius of our house. It's a nice feeling! I did not get lost although would have 2 months ago on this same journey.

I had no idea how fast I was going because I did not know mile markers past 1.5, but am satisified with my sub 9 minute miles for almost 4 miles. My goal in the next 2 weeks is to get up to 4.5 sub 9 minute miles, so that I can finish the Bix in under an hour. Pipe dream? Most likely but it's good to have a goal. I started out intending to swim tonight but got all the way to the pool (2 miles away, I know hardly can complain) and forgot my pass. I was only swimming because it was supposed to rain but when I got home to get my pass, the big dark cloud seemed to have passed along with the 95 degree temps so I decided to run instead. Although considerabl cooler at 81 degrees, the humidity is killer. I was dretchen in sweat and didn't even realize it.

I'm single this weekend as Evan is in the middle of no where listening to his favorite bands and catching up with Mike and Emily (Bales and Jesse are there too but he's not really catching up with them because we seem them once a week). On the job front, I had a phone interveiw on Wednesday that went very very well. I have a second interveiw for a position higher than that I interviewed for, here in St. Louis hopefully on the 20th. The company is based out of Indianapolis. Also, the positions RPS wanted me to interview for at Moneta have since been filled...bummer! Laura agreed to let me stay till mid July becuase "something else will open up there soon, I'm sure". It buys me more time, but I hope to be out of there before then. Being bored at a place you spend 8 hours of your day, 40 hours a week is miserable. I was enjoying it at first but after a day, I'm over it.

I'm off to hit the showers, clean and go to bed. I got literaly 3 hours of sleep last night. The 2 dogs were not happy. I think Tulley has speration anxiety and will not sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time. Not to mention (no exageration here) he was up at 11:30 (we went to bed at 11), 2:30, 4, 5, 6 and up for good at 6:45. I couldn't listen to him bark anymore so I took him outside at 2 and at 5 and 6. I didn't want him waking up the neighbors. I feel so bad for him, I wish he were happy here, but I have no idea what to do! Hopefully tonight goes better.

Pictures!

Happy Birthday Casey!


Happy 1 year anniversary 06-05-05

Fact or Fiction?

Activity: biking (wednesday night "BFC" ride)
Time: 73 minutes
Distance: 16.2 miles

I remember growing up being told 2 things: Don't eat before you swim and don't bike in the rain. I'm sure there is validity in both of these but how much? I've always wondered if the 1 hour, swimming rule applies only to swimming or to all sorts of physical activity. I seem to rememeber the not biking in the rain was due to a) rusting chain and/or gears and insufficient breaks. However, tonight my mother would have been dissapointed because I biked 15 miles, over an hour in a consistant rain.

On my way home from work I barely needed my wipers so I figured I could cut it on the bike. I've run in worse rain. Tonight I was to meet Anne of the Trailnet.org BFC (bicycle fun club). I emailed Anne this morning when the temp was already over 100 with the heat index to see if she was still planning on biking. She indicated yes but hoped it would rain to cool things off and she prefers biking in the rain anyway. At 6:05 I got to the designated meeting spot for the central coridore weekly group ride, and there were 2 cars there, neither were Anne. One was a guy (I wish I were better at names) who asked if I was Anne and when I said no I'm Sarah he said, well Anne called and she's not coming. (Why ask if I was Anne if he knew she wasn't coming??) He was to give me the message. So this guy gave me a map, explained the different routes and the pink arrows on the path and sent me on my way! I could have waited for others but decided to start on my own since I'm slow and I figured others would catch me. No such luck! Even when you circle back for the last 8 miles, not a soul in sight!

The ride was nice. However, it took me through some parts of town I would not drive by myself in day light before tonight, let alone ride on my bike, alone. Obviously I was completely safe and lived to tell about it I guess it just goes to show how things are not always what they seem! I rode the entire ride in the street which was not as bad as I assumed it to be. I stuck with the shortest loop, 15 miles but decided next time I will add on the shorter of the 3 add on loops. I also biked past a park I've been meaning to go to so now I know I can bike there next time I'm feeling adventerous. I ended back at the parking lot even though I rode past our house to get there, I wanted to see if there were any cars with bike racks in the lot. None! Not 1 car in the lot. I think that means I'm an idiot for finishing that ride but oh well, I'm glad I did it and I gave up Parties in the Park because of it. OK so I'm sure I would not have gone to P in the P with the rain but I gave it up before I knew of the rain.

I arrived home filthy dirty and wet but over all satisified with myself and my ride. I went faster than I thought I could, stayed on the road the whole time and made it home safely and not too incredibly tired! I had the worst foot cramps I've ever felt though! I have been working diligently on using the ball of my foot instead of the flat of my foot to pedal and overall I like it but I think that is the cause for the cramp. I need to stretch more and just get used to it I'm sure because I could barely walk until I had it stretched out, let alone run any type of distance.

I decided also to join the Center of Clayton and tomorrow I pay my first month's dues. I discoverd that they do in fact have a morning lap swim option which fits nicely into my schedule as the locker rooms are much MUCH nicer than at Heman so I can bring my things and get ready for work there and then only have a 2 minute commute. They have a coffee bar there too which I'm really looking forward too. There's that cart before the horse again!

I'm off to spend some quality time with my husband before he leaves us for 5 days. Haircut and laundry, here I come!

another marathon??

Activity: Running
Distance: 4.6 miles
Time: 42 minutes (4 stop lights though, does that count?)
Tempature: 89 degrees F

I just ran 4.6 miles and it felt like a marathon....How pathetic is that. I used to be able to run 15 at a time with out stopping. I'm drentched in sweat.

Also on the plate for this evening, trying to decide which pool to join. Here are the options:

Center of Clayton: If I can get someone to say I work at Moneta (which I might in the future, who knows?) I can join there for $100 till the end of September. They have more than just a pool, I can also take spinning classes at a reduced cost, but I would still have to pay for them. I could not swim in the morning because they do not offer lap swim in the am. The pool is open from 12:30 pm to 8:30 pm. I could swim on my way home from work at night....it's in doors

The Heman park pool: Because I live in U City I could join that pool for $75 and swim (not just laps) when ever I want. In all reality, how often am I going to go to the pool by myself? I could only swim before work because they only have lap swim from 6:00 am to 8:30 am and for 3 hours on the weekend. No other fitness activities.

I like the idea of swimming before work because it's done and if something comes up in the evening I don't have to make bad decisions (like watching the Cards beat the Red Sox tonight although I chose to work out instead for a change!). However, I don't like limiting myself to only one time to swim. It is cheaper to join Heman park although only $25.00 but that's still enough for a night out! If I join Center of Clayton and like it I can work out there in the winter too!

I have to decied toinght. Anyone wanna throw in a suggestion?

Long time, no see

Let me start by explaining the lapse in time from my last enty till now....I've got nothing to report!

Since my last update, I took 1 week off. I did NOTHING in terms of exercise for 5 days, broke the streak for a 3 mile run on Saturday May 28th, only to take off another 2 days in the name of graduation and just plain relaxing with family. The 3 mile run went better than planned, I came in just under 24 minutes, I was pleased. However if I continue with 3 mile runs 3 times a week, I'm falling WAY short of my 20 mile/week goal. I'm caught somewhere between racking up the miles and increasing my speed. I'm working out a plan to combine the 2.

We left Bettendorf after a nice long busy weekend and got back to ST. Louis on Tuesday afternoon. I broke the streak and FINALY hit the road for a test to see if I even could run anymore. Wanted to do more than 3 miles, which I successfuly did....barely. I stratagicly planned out my course so that I knew where my mile markers were. Mile 1 came in just under 8 mins. Painful but good. Mile 2....6 minutes??? Are you kidding me? Must be something wrong with my plan. Mile 3; 8 min 12 sec (OK if I really ran a 6 min mile before that, I'm OK with that) and then the last .8 or a mile was just under 6:30. So I re-worked my carefully thought out course to discover mile 2 was just shy of 1 mile. About .2 shy, so by my math, that would have put me still under 8 minutes if I continued my pace for the remaining .2 mile. Why do I obsess over these things? Why can't I just go out an run and not have to obsess about time? That should be my new goal.

Wednesday I bought a bike helmet and tried it out with my new pedometer, or is it an Odometer? The thing that tracks your miles and all that cool stuff. (thanks to a great anniversary gift from Conrad and Abbie) A nice bike ride. I met a woman who is part of Trailnet.org, a biking club in St. Louis. They do weekly rides on Tues, Wed, and Thurs nights. The Wednesday night ride is in my neighborhood so I gave her my name and said I'd be there next week. They all look like pretty intense riders so we'll see how I do. The path is anywhere from 8 to 27 miles. I think I'll start somewhere around 8, and work my way up through the summer. The loop is 8 miles and then you keep adding different loops to get to a certain point. The best part? They had oranges and capri sun in the parking lot after the ride. Just like Y soccer games! Plus it will be nice to be involved in something.

Thursday and Friday were both runs, didn't even look at my watch until the end! I did the same small loop around Heman park. Twice on Thursday but only once on Friday (wanted to finish in under 15 minutes for 2 miles, ended up at 17:30 for 2.4 miles),to allow myself time to get geared up for the weekend long First Anniversary Celebration.

Yesterday I took to the bike trails again in 95 degree heat. I couldn't figure out why I was so beat after only 13 miles, till I looked at the temp on my odometer. Welcome to summer in St. Louis. I'm sure I'll get used to it!

This morning I hit the pool for the first time in TWO WEEKS!! It felt like my first time ever. It hurt so bad! Aside from the difficulty I had learning the "rules" at this pool, I did not enjoy this experience. The pool is a standard swimming pool, used primarily for the enjoyment of children in the summer to cool off from the heat. So, it's large and odd shaped. There were lines to mark the lanes (or so I thought), but the walls were further apart at each line as you progressed towards the deep end. (the lines were all the same length fortunately) Weird. There were lots of people there which meant the water wasn't as smooth as I'm used to and it made it more challenging to swim. All in all, not a good swim. I still have not figured out how long the pool is. I imagined it was 50M but the 2 people I spoke to said different things, although the consensus was that "We just don't worry about those things here". Well then how do you know how far you've swum? Just guess? I liked swimming in the am and being outside but I don't know if I'll go back to that pool. I suppose I will learn the "rules" especially since they have no problem telling me when I'm doing things incorrectly (you take the first open lane, not just anyone you want, and actualy it's a line on the pool floor, not a lane. You only get 1 line. Even if there are 100 open, you have to swim on the line, not between them. Only when the pool fills up can people swim in between the lines.) I'm not sure who made up the "rules" but they all seem to know them and I stuck out like a sore thumb for not following them. Someone actualy told me "we don't bring our towels out here because they will get wet". You mean there is water in the pool? Go figure! I should be allowed to have my towel on the pool deck if I choose. I don't feel comfortable walking around in just a swim suit with all of the dirty old men there. Jeez!

So that is long painful recap of the last 2 weeks. Not sure what I'll do in terms of swimming this week. I should keep going back to the Heman park pool if for no other reason than to show them that they don't intemidate me (OK so they do a little) and it's way more convenient.

Where did I leave off???

Sometime after my last update, I did a bit of working out. To sum up the week:

Wednesday: After biking too and from work, I considered that a work out. Evan and I walked to get dinner in the loop, another 2 miles, so I called that a "cross train" day.

Thursday: I got bribed into taking Casey for a run. Evan said if I took Casey to get some exercies, he would make dinner, start the laundry and do the dishes. Couldn't pass that up so I ran Casey 3 miles, in just under 24 minutes. 8 minute miles would be my dream 10K pace so just shy of a 5K, in under 24 minutes, I'll take it. I guess my time trails are paying off? I then swam but I was pretty tired and was there less than an hour. I think I only got in 1000M. Huge headache too. Could it be the swim cap? Seems unlikely but who knows.

Friday: Biked to work. National "bike to work day" so I stopped by the booth at forest park and then biked to work, probably about 7 miles total. I intended to bike home but decided to meet Evan and Amy at Houlihans so we got my bike in the morning.

Saturday: 10 mile bike ride at Creve Coeur Park. Nice FLAT path. Loved the flat. I wore Evan out on the back half and he was done when we got back to the car. There is a 3.6 mile trail that leads from Creve Coeur to the Katy trail, want to try that next time for sure. Evan doesn't like the bike rack, he was nervous the whole time. We have to get a bar for my bike so that it fits OK on there and today at Walmart we both a strap that will hopefully help hold things together so he's not so nervous. He won't take it out on the interstate yet which drasticly cuts down on the number of trails we can ride, but I'm sure as we use it more he'll get more comfortable. After the bike ride, Evan golfed and I swam. Again, I was tired and the headache returned but I noticed it got worse as I worked on my breathing so I think it was oxygen deprived. I also notice I only breath on one side and so I starting working on breathing on both sides. It's going to take some work.

Today: 1 hour walk in the park with the husband and dog. It was glorious! The weather was sunny and about 80 degrees. I loved every minute of it. I wish it could have gone on longer. I worked on flexibility with some stretches and calestetics and then a 3 mile run. I was shooting for under 8 min miles which only meant I went out too fast and then my last 2 miles were 16:26, so over 8 min. Which is dissapointing because I know I can do better (thursday night)

This is the last week of indoor swimming. Then I'm not sure what. I can join the Clayton community center for $32 a month and swim indoors at night or I can swim outside in the mornings at the U City pool. I'm not sure if you have to pay or if you have to "pay" like I was supposed to pay at the indoor pool. I think that will make my decision for me. If I can swim for free at the U City pool, I'll do that. If I buy a pass to the U City pool, we can use it all summer but in all actualy since we have like 4 free weekends this summer, am I going to get a chance to use the pass?

On an unrelated note: Their tee time was at 3pm yesterday which is when the pool closes. So I left the pool at about 3pm and biked home for about 3 minutes. When I got home, the house was all locked up (I had no phone and no keys, I was swimming and had no need for those things). I knew that since tee time was at 3, they would be gone AT LEAST 4 more hours and that does not include time to drive home. Good thing I had my bike! After talking to the neighbors for about an hour I biked around the neighborhood to waste time. Apparently when I was gone my landlord stopped by to show the apartment to someone. Ben told him I was locked out so he knew it and said he'd be back later to show to someone else. So when I got back after having exhausted all of my options (except riding to the landlords house, DUH) Amos was there showing the apartment again and let me in. Then today I went to get gas and then to the grocery store and I ran out of gas on my way to the gas station. This has NEVER happened to me before! I was seriously a block away so I just pulled over where I was. Evan was on his way to hockey and called to see what I was doing on the side of the road. This time I had my keys so I walked home and now I'm off to fill my car up with gas. What an event full weekend! I hope that's it for awhile. it was enough excitement for me!

The new bike rack came yesterday. I'm pleased with the product but not the service. I guess that's what you get when you buy from Ebay!

While Evan was assembling and getting the bikes ready for a bike ride, I took Casey to the park where the Loo's decided we should all go to dinner, so I ditched the work out and opted for dinner with friends instead. I'm still feeling a little guilty as I haven't been in the pool for over a week now but then Evan reminded me that 7 months ago it would have been no contest for working out or hanging out with friends. He's right but if I'm going to do this and be committed and get what I want out of it, I need to be committed. there are going to be many opportunities this summer to ditch the work out for an evening out so I either need to adjust my schedule or learn to say no.

So I decided to adjust my schedule. I got up before 5:3o am to get to the pool and then bike to work. I had my bag mostly packed although not totaly because to be quite honest, I wasn't 100% confident I would get up. So....with my bag packed I headed to the pool and after dealing with locked doors, a secret enterance to the locker room and a whole slew of confusion, I got to the pool to find no open lanes. So I left. I didn't want to share. what do I do, just jump in someones lane and start swimming? It felt weird so I left. I still biked to work though, and I was early so it wasn't a total lost of an early rise. Now I know for next time to get there early and what to do once I get there, hopefully I'll get in the pool on Friday.

Tonight it's either run or bike. I prefer to bike but Casey needs some lovin' and Evan's golfing so it looks like running, unless I want to be gone all night between the park and the run.

Francis Field

Not much to report....the weekend was pretty un athletic, unless you count dancing. I had such a great weekend though with Crystal and the girls. I wish they could be here every weekend.

Today it was back to the track. Man do I feel s l o w . There was some sort of track/runners club at Francis Field tonight and it made me crave being in awesome shape again and being able to dance around the track like no big deal.

Tonight I ran to the U City track, where there was track practice, so then I turned around and ran to Wash U track (AKA Francis Field). The track was recently re done and in very nice condition. I will go back. Hopefully more ofter than not since I really enjoyed the track workout, just need more of them! I wanted to do 10 quarters with 200 M recovery. What was I thinking?! I actualy made it with 8 and 2o0M recovery so all-in-all I got in 3 miles on the track and about 2 warm up and 1.5 cool down. My goal was 1:30 (OK actually 1:45 but 1:30 would have been nice). I was under 2:00 each time and under 1:45 all but 2 times. One lap I got so mesermized by the girl sprinting 3000M that I forgot what I was doing and looked down at my watch and was at like 1:05 at the 200M mark. YIKES!. That girl finished her 3200M (2 miles ) in 9:51. Crazy. She was doing 75 sec splits. What a feeling to be that fast. She had kick ass legs too. Now theres some motivation. Maybe if I keep going there I will get faster just breathing their air.....

One can dream huh!

Remember when....

I remember running in track meets and feeling like my legs could not keep up with my body. It's been a LONG time since I've felt that way. Monday night I headed back to fat girl park (there were no fat girls this time) to do timed 1/2 miles again. It felt so great to have some speed again. I am so used to running just to run and running long distance speed, I thought I forgot how to run fast. I had side cramps, troubles breathing and was sweating more than I've sweat in a long time.....and I loved it! Total run was over 6 miles with the warm up and cool down. What a great feeling.

Today I swam. After getting to the pool only to realize that Evan had the bike lock, I biked back home and then back to the pool again. So, I biked an extra 4 blocks! I did 1500M again, but this time had more of a structure to my work out. I did 100M warm up 100M Kicks, 100M swim (I thought this meant arms only but this didn't work well for me) as suggested by a work out I found. Then a 200M swim. After this 500 M warm up, I did 8x 50's then 10x 25's. Finished with a 550M swim. OK so I just realized this is acutaly 1650 M. I over shot it a bit I guess because I was only supposed to do 1500 M. I have goals now for speed and that's what I'm going to focus on. I'll stay at this distance for a while and work on getting faster. I have no desire to swim more than 1 mile.

Tomorrow they are calling for 90+ degree weather. I'm not ready for that yet. Maybe I'll take the say off to bottle the beer.....I think I could use a day off. :)

this weekend

Saturday:
Activity: bike/swim
Time: 25 min/50 min
Distance: 3 miles/1500 M

I wanted to bike but knew the park would be packed so I biked to the pool (plus around the neighborhood, the pool is only a block away) and then swam 1500 M and then biked back. This swim went much better than the others. I decided I was going to do 500 M and then keep doing 500M until I couldn't go any longer, or until the pool was closed. I started and once I got to 10 laps, I could keep going so I did 20 more!

Sunday:
Activity: Bike
Time 1 hour
Distance 10 + mies

Evan biked the park with me. We did the "hilly side". If you travel south, you get all the hills. If you go North, you get more down hills. I normaly run north, bike south. Then Evan gave me a bike tour or Wash U's campus. There were some new buildings he didn't know yet, but it was cool. You could tell it's the weekend before finals. We decided that Forest Park is not a good place to bike for fitness but for leisure. I came home and even though we were gone for an hour, we both felt like we didn't get a very good work out. The hills are tough but you are fighting so many other people it's hard to get any momentum going. We found the bike rack we are purchasing and hopefully getting in 6 hours when the bidding ends on Ebay. I love Ebay! In 2 weeks we are going out to the Katy trail, flat and long and (hopefully) less crowded.

Next weekend Crystal will be in town so I will be doing a lot of what we do when we all get togheter, drinking a lot of wine and chatting. So....I am going to have to work harder this week to make up for taking the entire weekend off next week. In other non-related news, Casey's first grooming appointment was a success. He was there 8 hours. I was worried about him and worried about how he would look. He looks much better than we thought. Still like Casey, just with short hair, and he's clean, nails cut, pads trimmed, ears cleaned, the works! He seemed happier today being less hot at the park. I'll put pictures up when Evan returns from golfing and I can find the flash drive to get the pics off of the lap top which is not cooperating for me at at the moment.

It was nice and sunny, a bit hot. I think i got some sun on 1 side of my body. Love uneven tans. I'm off to shoe shop....hard to believe it's that time already. Seems like I just got new shoes!

Busy week

It's been a busy week! I actualy got done almost everything I wanted to get done with the exception of cleaning the house.

Wednesday night
Activity: Running
Distance: 5 (plus some) miles
Time: No idea
I discovered a new park, fairly close to the house. It is called Millar park and it includes a 1/2 mile jogging path. I like the park but will now refer to it as fat girl park for a story you'll read in a moment. My goal was to do quarters on Wednesday night but there were 2 problems: Casey can't run on the track and both U City highschool and Wash U had practice so I had no track to run on. SO...the next best thing was to do halves at the park. I suppose this worked better because the park was further away than either track so I got more of a warm up and cool down. I was shooting for 3:30 halves. Evan and I talked about how fast my goal should be and I got sad thinking that when I was in highschool we did 16 quarters and our goal was 75 seconds. Now I'm trying hard for 3:30 halves and only doing 2 of them..... ahhhh getting old and lazy.

I started out with a 1.5 mile run to the park. Then jogged 1 lap. I did 2 sets of 1 lap sprint, 1 lap rest, for a total of 2 miles. Then I ran back home for another 1.5 miles.
The warm up, 1.5 to the park and 1 lap, came in at 14:59. Timed half #1 was at 3:42. Timed half #2 was at 3:37. I'm not all that thrilled but it gives me a starting point and I hope to get better from there. What would be ideal would be if Evan would run there with me and take the dog with him so I can focus on speed and not pulling Casey away from the squirls, bunny's kids, ect... The cool down was MUCH worse at 15 minutes.

I did manage to get hit on at the park, so that's a plus! When I first got to the park there were 2 women (approaching 250 easy) standing and talking. But the women decided that the best place to have their converstaion was RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PATH. When you ran, or walked, or biked, or skated towards them, they should move, right? No such luck. They just stood there, and continued to talk and then scowled at you like you were in THEIR way. 1 lap later another heavy womany, who had been walking before so I give her a bit of credit, had stopped to join the conversation. So now there are THREE women blocking the path. This continued till there were 4 large woman and 1 large kid taking up not only the path but a good 10 feet either side of it. I was NOT happy about it. Then, my luck changed and I got hit on. Always the way I like to end a work out. This poor kid was obviously there to loiter, seeing as he was wearing jeans and street shoes, starts sprinting every time he sees me coming. He would run for about 200 meters and then stop. He continued this for 2 laps. When I finaly got close enough to him he says to me "you working out too, huh". To which I wanted to reply, no, just running from the cops. He then asked if we could work out together sometime. "I'm Jim, but my friends call me slim" (he was NOT slim) "you live around here?". I kept moving, not wanting to engage in an actualy conversation but he didn't get the point. He didn't leave me alone until I left the park. I don't think I will go to that park in the dark, but I will go back.

Thursday night
Activity: Swimming.
Distance: I'd have to add and I don't feel like it
Time: 45 minutes total work out

Thursdays work out was far less exciting if you don't consider the hissy fit I threw when I thought Evan or the dog had taken my swimsuit just to be mean, and the fact that it took me about 20 minutes (the pool is 1 block from our house) to find the pool exactly. Once I found my suit, got dressed and got to the pool it was very uneventful, considering the previous nights experiences. There were 2 other men swimming and 2 kids "working" at the pool. I did not buy a pass because a) you have to buy it at another location and I wasn't sure I'd have time and b) I wanted to see if I liked it first. Turns out, there is no pass necessary. I asked them if they needed to see my pass and they said 'O, you actualy bought one of those, sorry you wasted your money'. So, they don't care I take it! I swam for 45 minutes and felt incredibly out of shape, inferior and water logged. The man that was there when I got there was still going strong and I never saw him stand or stop to rest. 45 minutes later! I started by getting comfortable with the water and then getting a few sample times so I would know where to go from here. Then I just thought I would see how far I could go. 500 M, 20 lenghts, seemed a bit impossible. I actualy did 11 lengths at one time without stopping which I thought was pretty good, till Evan told me that David swims 2000-3000 meters at a time with out stopping. I have no idea how many laps I actually went because I didn't count but it was at least an effort and I'm not ready to quit yet. But, needless to say, I have work to do in the swimming department. Normaly when I work out at the gym on the bike or the treadmill I'm there for a long period of time and see others come and go. Last night I was one of the "come and go" and I did not like that feeling. I felt like a slacker, and I was really tired. It was 9:30 pm, I'd been going strong since 7am and I'd not eaten dinner yet. No excuses, I know so I am trying to consider it an accompolishment that since it was so late in the day, I'd not eaten, I couldn't find my suit, I still went out anyway.

Small steps.....

Tuesday

Activity: Run
Distance: 4.6 miles
Time: 40m 41s
A little over 8 min 36 sec miles.....could it be? While I was running I was thinking that I should set a goal to run a half with 8 minute miles. Then I laughed to myself. I wonder how long it would take me to train and be ready for a half marathon doing 8 minute miles? Something to work for I guess. Mabye my first goal could be a 10K with 8 min miles?

Tomorrow is my first pool workout with my new work out plan. I know, how long have I been talking about this?

I was able to acquire some allen wrenches so tonight the bike handlebars get lowered. Maybe I'll ride to work tomorrow? I was waiting to see if I got the new job before making any changes to my morning routine but it's been 2 days and I still haven't hear anything so I'm going to write it off as another nice attempt.

About the new job prospect: I promised myself I would not get excited about this but when the first interview went so well on Friday, I couldn't help but get excited. My second inteview yesterday was much less than fun. I met with 3 people. The first, Steve Luvall, Director of Human resources. We talked for literly 5 minutes and he asked me 1 question. Then when it was my turn to ask questions I asked him how he played into the department, his job, his responsibilities. After he gave me a blanket answer I asked him if he liked it and he shrugged and said, well, you know, it's, well, it's fine. I wasn't sure if he was talking about St. Louis or the work he does but I was not impressed. The next person was Loraine, whose job they are filling and she talked like no one in the world will ever be better than her and no one will do a good enough job but "they'll just have to get used to who ever they hire and make adjustments accordingly". Finally was Tom, the VP of HR who didn't even get out of his chair when he was done with me. Said "OK, you can go now". He didn't seem to be impressed with me and he had no idea if they were done interviewing or when they would decided. I left Tom's office and told Loraine that I thought the recruiter needed to see me again to give me some paperwork but Loraine said, no I could leave. Then they watched me walk out!! It was the receptionist when I checked out that asked if anyone had given me a parking token. So....we'll see if they call tomorrow. If not, at least I still have a job and can afford to be a little picky about who and when I decide to interview with.

Off to get a strong back and arms! Hopefully I'll have a swim workout to write about tomorrow.

anxiously waiting

While I'm waiting for Evan to emerge fromt he bathroom so I can see if he decided to shave his beard, trim his beard, or create some sort of design in his beard, I thought I'd write about my biking experience today.

Activity: Biking
Distance: ??? Not sure but a 10K for at least plus another hour
Time: 2 hours 17 minutes total. The 10K was (I think) 32 minutes

After I road around the park once to complete a 10K, I decided to explore the park a bit. I really enjoyed it although I have no idea how far I went. I decided my handle bars are too high, on the ride back home my back hurt from the position I was in. We then tried to lower them and discovered we lack allen wrenches so that is on the list of things to obtain this week. I also discovered that my instruction booklet does not tell you how to lower the handlebars. I also decided that I do like the tire width. Anything thinner would not work well for the path. It is gravel/ limestone with only a portion being concrete. I think anything thinner would have been difficult in those conditions. Also, I rarely ride on the street (due to my own comfort level) and because of this often have to pass pedestrians on the grass. Thinner tires would cause a wipe out for sure. Also on the list of things to obtain are a helmet, bike rack, and a water bottle holder.

I also decided I should stay away from the park on days like today....there was an earth day celebration (or as the guy in the park said, a vegetarian festival) and there was entirely too much activity. I about killed myself, not to mention countless other innocent park goers, because I was trying to checkout everything. WAY too much going on for me. I was too distracted to actualy pay attention to what I was doing. But more than 2 hours later I returned home and felt like I got a pretty good work out despite my leisurely ride through the park.

Evan decided the beard stays, for now, but may decide it's coming off before too long. When it gets hot, he says. It's going to be cold all week (50-60 degrees) so not anytime soon it looks like.

Trying to get back into it

Activity: Run
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 38 minutes

Then we took the dog on a walk to get lunch. 2 miles round trip. I had tired legs yesterday. During the marathon training I read and article about injurys and how long you could be "out" with an injury without losing your fitness level. The article said 2 weeks. I disagree with this. I ran a marthon 3 weeks ago and yesterday had tired legs, worse than most long runs, after 4 miles of running and 2 miles of walking. I've got work to do.

I'm still at it.

I’ve decided to keep up this journal so because I am going to start training for *something* but I will not announce until the time is close and until I have time to gauge my athletic ability. Also, this keeps me motivate. I will say that the QC marathon is the same weekend of Mike and Emily’s wedding in New York, which I have been waiting for since they announced the date, so that doesn’t fit so well into my schedule. Sorry Mom and Dad, I so wanted you to see me run that one. The Chicago is in October but Rich is talking about running that so I’ll have to ponder on that for a while. There is also the ever-popular Twin Cities marathon in October also that Allison is running but I actually think registration might be closed already. It fills up really quickly. The Louis and Clark marathon is the end of September here so that is most definitely a possibility in the mean time. I have it on my calendar. Working back from the end of September, I would need to start a training program by the middle of June. I’m going to try something different than Hal for this one. I still have more research to be done.

I decided not to do the bike race this week. I did get a bike though. I road it once this week. It’s been raining constantly since we got back into town. When we got Evan’s bike it rained for 2 weeks straight so he never got into riding it to work. Looks like I’m destined to the same fate. My plan for the weekend is to get out on a nice long ride to get a feel for the bike. So far so good though! I got out on Wednesday to attempt a 10K around the park. I’m not sure how far I went or how long I ran because I didn’t have my watch but I headed back to the car at one point and ended up not saving myself any distance. I never was really “lost”, I always knew where I was, but I would make a turn thinking it would get me where I wanted to go and instead I would end up somewhere else. We walked for about 40 minutes. 2 good things I learned in the park: It’s a great place to bike, and by biking in the streets there I can get comfortable with biking in the streets with out having to actually be on the city streets with real traffic. I think because it’s a park, I feel more safe. Also, there are many small-unknown bike paths for running. Now that I have a month or two where I don’t have to worry about distance I can go out for a jog and do a little exploring in the park.

My current goals are to work on speed and strength. I am going to start swimming and lifting. I have a training program in mind that involves 6 days of exercise but on a much more mild scale than before but before I need to try it for a few weeks before I post it. I am done being lazy and stuffing my mouth with what ever I think sounds good. This weekend marks the shift to a more active lifestyle, for the whole family! I want to take the bikes out tomorrow for a nice ride and then get a nice run in on Sunday which will kick start this program nicely.

Recovery

I am mostly recovered today. Yesterday was a huge improvement and today I didn't even flinch when walking down the stairs. I inteded to get to the gym yesterday but it didn't happen so today I'm biking. I want to do a duathon April 30th which requires being able to bike 15 miles after having run a 5K. I'll know more in a week if I'm up to it.

Here are the official race photos: www.runphoto.com Select Spirit of St. Louis marathon and my tag number is 736.

Also, on an unrelated note, Wash U, ranked # 6 national won their first game against Vermont ranked #19 national. They are playing #4 UT Dallas as we speak. They are down 1 defender last I heard but had a good showing at the first game. To watch the action (second hand) check out the NCRHA website at http://www.ncrha.org/championships/schedule.php

I give up

I can't figure out how to get rid of the stupid picture on the side or to do what I want with these other pictures....I give up for the night.

Beautiful flowers from my husband.

Mile 13. Excited to see my family.

My family there to help support me. Jeane, Evan, Me, Holly, Chuck

The starting line

Where to begin.....

On Sunday April 10th at 12:02 PM I crossed the finish line of my first marathon. The clock time read 5:02:32 but my watch said 4:59:45. Just shy of 5 hours.

Saturday night, the in-laws arrived around 4pm and we went to pick up the packet, drive the race course and get some dinner. We had Ciceros for dinner. Spaghetti and 1 beer to calm the nerves. I was home and in bed by 10:30, set the alarm for 4:45. I woke for the first time at 3:30. I went back to bed and slept off and on for the next hour and half. At 5 I was up and was surprisingly awake and OK with being up at that hour. I forced myself to eat a bowl of Wheaties and 2 pieces of toast, a glass of juice and 2 glasses of water. I had just enough time to eat, dress, stretch and get down town by 6:30. We had a minor crisis with safety pins, being that there were none provided in the race packet and I could not find any in the house. Crisis averted when I remember the "wedding emergency kit" in the closet that had safety pins in it.

I got to the starting line and the nerves were in full force, I had to pee like no other. So did everyone else apparently. I waited in line for what seemed like forever, and then made my way to the starting line. I met up with the 4:45 New Balance pace group and acquainted myself with the pacer, Jonathon and a few other girls in the group. My plan was to stick with them as long as possible. In my group was Curtis who had now completed 3 marathons. I came to find out Curtis was a better pacer than Jonathon. There were about 40 people in the pace group and most of them were completing the half only. I tried to find someone running the whole thing to stick with but had no luck.

The first 5 miles FLEW by. According to both Jonathon and Curtis, we were consistently 2 minutes off of our pace (too fast I think). I'm saying it's the adrenaline. There were a total of 8300 runners, about 7000 of them running the half. All 8300 of us ran the first 10 miles of the course together. This made water stops difficult. There was water/Gatorade at every other mile for the first 18 miles, and then every mile after that. The water stops at 2, 4 and 6 were SOOO crowded. I was grateful to have brought my water belt so I didn't have to stop. I lost the rest of the pace group over water stops 6 and 8, and never saw any of them again.

At mile 5, the Loo's were waiting to cheer me on. It was a great feeling to see a familiar face. At mile 7 I saw Evan, Jeane and Chuck and Chuck jumped in for his first 3 miles with me. Evan and Jeane had a sign with my name on it, it was so much fun to see. I wish I could have stopped but I had to keep going. I ditched my empty water bottle and traded it for a mini bottle of water that Chuck kindly carried for me. This meant I didn't have to stop at the next 2 water stops either. I also saw Suzanne, and the Loo's again at mile 7. Such a great feeling. Chuck ran the next 3 miles with me, and at mile 10, the half marathoners also dropped of. I then entered the park and was running alone for 3 miles. For about a mile of that I hooked up with 2 girls from Florida who traveled here to run this race. They ran with me and kept me occupied for mile 12 till I saw the Keiblers again! Chuck ran about another half mile with me and then there was mile 14 already. I was more than half done. How did this happen? I am supposed to be miserable and in pain. The weather was georgous, the course was scenic and entertaining and the crowd and volunteers were so supportive. I got pretty emotional from mile 10 to 14. When the volunteers would cheer I would choke out a "thank you" and think, how cool of them to come out here and cheer on people they've never met. It's was a really cool feeling. The first 13 miles were consistent at 11 minutes. I was pleased.

At mile 14 my boss, Rich, joined me for 6 miles. He's a much better runner than I was and I was afraid I would burn out trying to keep up with him. He pushed me for about 2 miles, somewhere under 11 minutes, which is where I was comfortable, so I got him to slow down a bit at 16. We saw the Keiblers again at 16. Chuck ran a few blocks and I got to re load on gummy bears for energy. Mile 16 on was what I dreaded the most. I ran that route at least once a week and was way too familiar with all of the hills and the crack, bumps, you name it. Somehow, it didn't bother me. I felt strong and continued on.

At mile 17 Holly was there with a towel and Gatorade and more candy for energy. She was such an encouragement jumping in to keep up with me, cheering me on and being enthuastic. Rich and I continued to mile 18 where they started bananas, and fruit and Gu. I did not opt for the Gu, having not tried it before, I wasn't sure how I would take it. Rich still kept with my slow pace, I was grateful having him there. Then it was down the loop. When running on Delmar, they had closed down only 1 lane of traffic. It was weird running with cars so close to you. Traffic was not moving very quickly so sometimes I felt like I was making it further than they were!

At mile 19 I stopped to go to the bathroom. I thought I had to go but actually did not. I still needed the break and took a minute to stretch while I was waiting for the Port-a-John to clear. 1 more block till I picked up Chuck again. I saw the family again at mile 19. Again a sight for sore eyes. It was starting to get hot I could tell because Evan had taken off his fleece. I was starting to feel like I was getting tired, but I kept going.

At mile 20 Rich left to head back to his car and Chuck and I continued. It was starting to hit me. I had just run 20 miles and had another 6 to go. I don't remember feeling as excited about the experience any more. My stomach was aching and I was beginning to wonder how I would make the next 6 miles. I tried to stop for water but had no room, so I passed on the water. I waddled through the next 2 miles somehow missing mile 21. Missing a mile is the BEST feeling. You're looking for mile 21 and then you see mile 22! The mile 22 water stop was followed by a hill that looked like a mountain at that point. Before the top of the mountain I started to really feel sick. Then I got sick, twice. Who knew, I was 100% better after than and I could actually pick my feet up off of the ground again. That continued for almost another mile. Holly replace Chuck sometime after that, and I saw Evan and Jeane for the last time till the end of the race. They both looked hot now so I knew the temperature was heating up. Holly came equipped with a towel and Gatorade, which was perfect considering I had just lost all of the Gatorade I just drank about a half mile back on the side of the road. From that point on I stopped at every water stop to drink something. I got sick one more time but I honestly cannot remember where. I'm trying to picture it in my head but I just can't. I remember seeing mile 24 and getting really emotional again. Who knew I would make it that far and still be moving my legs......The last 2 miles were anything but fun but I made it through. Holly was a huge support and said all the right things. She just talked and kept me going which was what I needed.

I rounded the corner to the finish line and saw the clock: 5 hours on the nose. I knew I was about 2 or 3 minutes off of the gun time so I had about 3 minutes to get over the finish line. I picked it up as fast as my tired legs could take me and crossed the finish line. The first person I saw that I knew was Heather, from work, and her daughter Taylor. I hugged the life out of them and heard Holly shouting my name on the other side. Heather and Taylor crossed over and I met my friends and family outside of the shoot. The officials gave me a warm bottle of water and removed my chip from my shoe. I grabbed a banana, a bagle, some string cheese and a cold juice box....everything they had to offer and went to sit down and enjoy the feeling of being done.

I am sooooo grateful for Chuck and Holly mostly for pushing me and allowing me to bit of a baby at times (specifically mile 20-22, and mile 26). Also for the Loo's, Suzanne, Heather and Taylor, and my wonderful husband and mother-in-law for being there with smiling faces, open arms, and all of the essentials cheering me on through the miles.

It was such a wonderful experience, a wonderful day! All of the good and the bad. I can't say I'm anxious to go out and register for another marathon any time soon, but I don't regret this one bit.

More to come

I'll write my entire experience when Evan is gone and I have some computer time. Until then....I'm off to lay on the couch some more and maybe get in another walk around the block if it stops raining.

I RAN A MARATHON!!!!

Superstar Sarah!

Great job Sarah! You were amazing. Today was blistering hot and the sun was unforgiving. I waited at mile 18 to cheer Sarah on. It was right at the top of a killer hill and she was flying. I can't believe how fast you were going. Then I zipped over to mile 22 and waited to join her. I ran the last 4 miles with her and she was in great spirits. Not only did Sarah finish her first marathon ever, but she did it in an amazing time of 5 hours for a whopping 26.2 miles. I'm so proud of you Sarah, not just for completing the marathon, but for sticking with the grueling training for the past 18 weeks. Way to go!

I love my friends.....

This just in, a beautiful plant from Crystal. The people at work are teasing me that everyone thinks I'm dying.

I love this!

What a day!!!

I’ve never gotten anything delivered to me at work before…Today I got TWO things. First Holly sent me a fruit basket, then I got the worlds largest peace lily from my mom. What a great day! They made my week in fact!

I just finished my last run of this training program. 2 whopping miles. It felt great. I forgot to start my watch so I have no idea how long it was but it felt like 10 minutes. Yesterday I opted for a gym work out as my knees were killing me and I needed to take it easy. I enjoyed that work out. No one was at the gym so I had the place all to myself.

With this program wrapping up, I feel a great amount of gratitude towards all my friends and family and have a round or thank you’s to get in so in no particular order:

• Thank you to Amy A for putting this crazy idea in my head. Who knew I’d actually do it?
• Much appreciation and love my husband who sacrificed home cooked meals, time alone together, a clean apartment, and at times my general good nature.
• Allison, Hope and the others who have gone down this road before me; I will never forget all of the advise you’ve given me. Thank you for giving me the courage to do this.
• A big hug and a thank you to Holly for humoring me long enough to actually get through a half marathon and helping to keep me going strong. I owe you huge
• Love to all of my friends and family who have shown their support daily through calls and emails. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.
• To my in-laws for making the treck down to bring some Iowa cheer
• A huge HOORAY to my father in law for committing to 6 miles, Holly with 3 (at least I think) , and Amy with 2. A shout out to all my friends from the Lou who will come out to cheer on Sunday morning, even for the first stretch before 9am.

So now I’m off to prepare for the ‘big day’. I’ve got my weekend planned out. Today for lunch it’s Pasta House with the girls. Dinner is a quite night in with my husband, after running errands to get ready for the weekend. Tomorrow is PF Changs for dinner with the in-laws, packet pick up and resting. I’ve got my wardrobe picked out: Look for me in pink short sleeve shirt, black shorts and white shoes and socks. Oh, and don’t forget the knee brace (which I still have to buy a new one….) Keep me in your prayers on Sunday. All I’m asking for is a finish.

Long, random thoughts

Why was 8 miles yesterday SOOOO difficult for me? I had a good night sleep Saturday night. I had food in my stomach (but not too much) and seemed to be fairly hydrated. I ran outside in 70-degree weather and the park was packed with other runners, walkers, bikers, and rollerbladers. It was an environment very conducive to being active. I have run many more than 8 miles in one afternoon before. I have felt better after wards than I did yesterday. WHY??? I came home discouraged that I could barely make my legs work the last mile and only ran 1/3 of what I’d run next week. I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong so that I don’t do it this week. So far I’m at a loss.

I was supposed to do 8 miles but could not find anyway to get to the park that would only be 1 mile so I ran 1.8 to the park, 6.2 around the park and 1.8 back for a total of 9.8. Considering I shorted myself 2 miles the previous week and a few weeks ago I was running over 10 miles twice a week, I figured it couldn’t make that much of a difference. I’m hoping that’s why I felt so terrible…..Can I say that’s the reason? Although I somehow managed to maintain 10 min/mile pace (it’s sick how consistent I am) I felt like I was barely moving for a while there. I finished at exactly 1 hr 36 min. BUT, I felt like it’d been 4 hours.

I wore a cotton T shirt and felt very uncomfortable after only 20 minutes, I did not wear my knee brace because I was wearing shorts and do not like to wear it when others can see it. On Friday I took my knee brace and turned in upside down and it worked great (so that the Velcro was on the outside of my knee). The last time, and only time so far, I wore my knee brace with shorts, the Velcro rubbed on the inside of my left knee something terrible. Not something I want to experience on 26.2 miles, so I experimented with running without the brace for 8 miles yesterday. Not a good idea. I will definitely be wearing it on Sunday. In fact I may get a new one as this one has seen it’s better days.

I’ve also been struggling with what to wear race day. Race starts at 7am. I’ll finish around noon. So, there is bound to be a variety of temperatures. Yesterday, I was out at around 11am, which is about when I’ll be starting the last leg of the race. I was comfortable in shorts and short sleeves, had it been not cotton. I’m gonna see how it feels at 7am every day this week and the re evaluate the situation. As of right now, I bought a short-sleeved dry fit shirt yesterday at TJ Maxx for $6 that I plan to wear with some of my tried and true running pants. The only problem is they were great for cold, windy, wet runs and I’m afraid they will be too thick for this run. I also bought shorts yesterday but I don’t like to show my knee brace. Should I suck it up and wear the shorts? Probably, but we’ll see. This week it’s going to be pushing 80. On Sunday they are calling for scattered thunderstorms and 68 degrees, PERFECT as long as it’s not lightening and there is minimal wind.

So this last week I’ve got some major mind control to work on. I need to prepare for a 26 mile run and then I can do a 26-mile run, right? Mind over matter is all it takes at this point.
Checklist for the week:

• Watch what I eat
• I think I can, I think I can
• Make sure what I plan to wear is clean and dry
• Get enough rest
• Positive reinforcements
• 3 more runs, 1 day of cross training to stay loose
• Remember this is supposed to be fun

1 WEEK!

I took Evan's bike out today for my cross training. I like it with a few obvious exceptions:
The seat (made for boys not girls), it's too long (can be fixed when I get my own) and the tires are too big (I can get smaller ones). Still I know nothing about biking in fact I ride on the sidewalks which I'm assuming is a huge no-no from the looks I was getting. Sorry folks, I'm an amature and you would NOT want me in the street. Besides, I don't have a helmet. So I decided to stay on side streets until I'm more versed in biking.

Tomorrow: 8 Miles. I plan to run in the park. Today was georgous out and tomorrows supposed to be twice as nice so there will be tons of people there which is much more fun.

Here is the link for the course next weekend, if anyone is curious. Yesterday at work I wrote out the times I expected to be at each major location in case anyone I work with wanted to come out and cheer. I'll do the same for those of you coming down this weekend. Made me realize what a LONG day it's going to be....

The next step

This weekend I want to go bike shopping. I want a bike now. I am seriously considering doing this event in Mattoon Beach IL on April 30th. MIGHT be too close to the marathon but if I take a week off and then bike/run for a few weeks, I think I could do it. Don't you?

I have NO IDEA what kind of bike to get. I've not bought a bike since I was 12 and I probably just got the one I thought looked the coolest and I'm pretty sure it came from Walmart. I will probably buy used but I plan to go to the bike shop to talk to them and see what they recomend for someone like me. No sense spending an arm and a leg for a bike that sits in the basement like the other bike we purchased this year. Maybe if I get a bike, Evan will use his more.

Ah.....

What a great feeling. A nice 6 mile jog (a little windy and hot) on a Wednesday night. No pressure. This week has been awesome so far. Monday was nice day off, followed by beautiful (windy) weather on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I feel a little like a slacker. Not only was my 4 miles yesterday got cut short but I also shorted Saturday's run by about 2 miles. Supposed to do 12, ended up somewhere around 10. It was a busy day and I had no idea how far I was running. I ran on the bike path at home which ended up being only 3.5 out so I added a bit mid way and at the end to come as close to 10 miles as I could. Based on time, i think that was about right.

Yesterdays run was cut short becuase I took Casey with me and he wasn't in the mood to run I guess. I pretty much pulled him for 2 miles and then took the shortest route home. Today, a little more of the same thing but I'm wondering now if maybe he is trying to herd me??? What do you think, he is a herding dog so it's his nature. He stayed right at my heal the whole time unless we came up on another runner/walker then he chased them a bit and ran a bit faster.

Speaking of other runners, twice tonight I had to come to a complete stop to pass someone who wouldn't move over when I said "excuse me" or even acknowlege I was there. I then ran in the street to pass them as soon and there were no cars coming. The nice weather has brought out so many people which is nice but now the streets are busy with walkers and joggers. Having the dog, I normaly move to the street so that we are out of the way but this is happening way more recently.

Evan and I are off to PF Changs for their "marathon menu". They have a menu designed for marathoners. We'll see how I like it. I was in such a foul mood earlier and that run made it all better. It's amazing how that works.

It's a 3 day weekend!

I did what I do best, altered the schedule I carefully drafted last night. However, it actually WORKED!!! I’ve been craving a day off lately. I figured it out last night I’m the only one in my office that has not had a day off this year yet, (vacation day, not scheduled holiday’s) I hate to waste days off for no reason, so I’ve not taken any. So…..today I took a 1 hour vacation and put in 8 miles this morning. Impressive huh! I got up early to run, take out the garbage, clean out the fridge and was at work by a little after 9am.

This would be my ideal situation if time permitted. I like to have my work out over first thing in the morning for several reasons….I only have to shower once, it frees up the night in case I want to do something spontaneous, like go to Houlihans for an emergency happy hours (yes I deliberately put in the ‘s’ because how many times is it ever just 1 hour?), or cook a fantastic dinner and spend some time at home. OK so the happy hour is a more likely option but fantastic evenings at home used to be much more common. I have been slacking off in the creative, good dinner department for the last couple of months. If it can’t be made in less than 40 minutes, total prep and cooking time, it won’t happen. By the time I’m done running either a) Evan is too hungry to wait or b) I am too tired to do anything much. I wish I could alter my work schedule to 9-5:30 with a half hour lunch…….Or I could just try to get myself out of bed earlier.

I also am starting interval training tomorrow. I’ll only do it once a week, so it’s a little late to benefit me for THE race but maybe it will help on my next race. Here’s how it works (for me anyway, I’ve combined numerous programs)
2 mile jog as a warm up, about 10 minute miles I’m thinking. I’ll run to the gym
About 1/25 of a mile or less of strides. Done on the treadmill to warm up after I run to the gym. (it has to be done on the treadmill because I don’t have a heart rate monitor and the tread mill has one built in)
Run 20 minutes at “interval pace”. This 85-90% of my maximum heart rate. My interval rate is going to be between 159.6 and 174.6. I’m going to start with a larger range till I get used to it.
The first 3 to 4 weeks are supposed to be pretty difficult. I plan to do this 2 times before the race and then make it part of my weekly work out. My “post race” plans are getting a little busy now….I signed up for a spinning class through STLCC for one night a week. This training will be at least an hour a day. Therefore I will probably only work out 3 days a week and once on the weekends.

We’ll see how it goes. In the past, I’ve not been able to hold a work out schedule with out some sort of “goal”. Perhaps if I throw in a run or 2 here and there it will keep me motivated enough to stick it out.

Blah, sick!

I've somehow managed to "find" a cold. All season I stayed relatively healthy, and I'm going to say it's because of the working out, but this weekend I got sick. Just that pesky nose, throat, head stuff but it makes for less than exciting work outs. Last night I traded in my sweats and sweatshir and headed to the gym. The cold rainy weather would have probably made the health problems worse.

I "cross trained" 5 miles. Is this like running? Felt like it for sure. The only difference was my feet didn't leave the ground. I then lifted for 45 minutes. I'm tryin to increase my work outs for the last 2 weeks. I know it sounds crazy but in my head it works. If I work out longer, I'll be less tired, right? Lat night I felt great. More importantly today I felt great. My legs weren't sore or tired (not that they normaly are on Wednesdays, the normaly are on Thursdays). I lifted legs after running because I read that it helps to strengthen them to build endurance. I'm going this direction for the next few days. Tonight I will only run because it's 8 miles so I will be working out over an hour already. I'm taking tomorrow off and then running 4 miles (peice of cake) and lifting hopefully at the new Bettendorf Y. Then I'll do my long run on Saturday morning. 12 miles this week.

So that's the plan kids. It's still icky outside. I hope it's not as cold as it looks. I don't know if rain is actualy falling or not. I'll find out real soon when I go outside though!