Come What May...

Did you ever think we would be running this far this soon? I had a great run this morning. I got started a little later than I wanted to, but the rains had cooled things a little to make up for the later departure. 4.32 miles, up the trail and back again in less than 1 hour. I think I may have finally stepped away from doing intervals. I have been doing 2:1's and started dropping the 1 minute walks a few weeks ago after the first few intervals. It seems like it takes me a couple of miles just to get warmed up. Did I just say that??!! Anyway, I hope you are all having a great week. This morning, I prayed for a few of you who are traveling, or have loved ones traveling... For those of you who have injuries, or have family members sick or ill. We seem to have a great "family" of friends in our running and I hope to see all of you Saturday.

Calibration Frustration.....

Okay ladies, please no "guy" meausurement jokes, please....I know this sounds really stupid, but I feel like I am going much slower now that I have calibrated my Nike+ iPod device to be more accurate. If you have read my blogs, you know by now that I am really addicted to the thing, and it has been a great motivater for me to keep up with my training, giving me logs, times, pace, miles cummulative, etc... However, I calibrated it using the marks put down by the Leukemia team in training folks' marks. I am sure they were accuate, but now my iPod shows my pace about 1 second/mile slower, and the distance covered about 10-15 percent less than normal. I know it is probably accurate now, when I ran the 10 mile Saturday is was showing 11.8miles... Clearly off... It wasn't that big of a deal when we were running 2,4, or even 6 miles... But now, 15-20%more is just too much cheating... Anyway, I did not know that my PACE was slower as well...Duh...
Anway, I was seeing my pace increase, and now it is back to the speed I was at a couple of months ago... I know.. I was ACTUALLY even SLOWER then! It is just hard to accept...Thanks for letting me wine...... Hope you all have a great week. I really enjoy reading these blogs.

Weekend Festivities...

For those of you who can't get enough pictures, here is my 4 year old Meagan rehearsing at the NW Rankin Performing Arts building. Her recital was Saturday afternoon. What a great way to start a great weekend!

Weekend Afterglow..

Is it just me, or has anyone else paid the price when they ate too much after a run? Apparently, what Mark indicated about the digestive system is correct, and the 10 miles has my system in overdrive. I got really hungry, and with all the memorial day fun, I could not help but indulge in all the grilling, finger foods, and beverages. I felt great Sunday and my XT consisted of flipping burgers for lots of family, and then splashing in the pool with the kids. I got about 5 miles in this morning along with calibrating the Nike+ and since my run this morning I have been paying for all the indulgence. It was great seeing so many people on the trails Saturday. I guess we were competing with the Leukemia team in training folks, along with a lot of regulars. At times, the trails looked like a high school hallway at lunch. I am so glad we are running at 6 this Saturday, too! That Rez breeze will be a nice addition.

I hope you all have a great week. I would be remiss without a SALUTE ! to all of you who are either presently serving or have served in our military. For those of you with spouses, significant others, or family- Thank you for your service and sacrifices, too!

Hello, Knee.

At the risk of sounding wimpy, I am a little nervous over a recurring problem with my knee. It started getting better aboutt a month ago, and was not really noticeable last week. Then, It started swelling up a little and feels a little weak when doing squats or going down steps. I mostly just don't won't do something that damages it seriously. I am having a great week, but I think that the extra activities are starting to take a toll. My GP previously said it was a little tendonitis, and I don't think it is serious, but I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions....

A Great Weekend...

I wish I could special order weather like this for every weekend. It was perfect for running, coaching baseball, going to gymnastic recitals, painting, yard work, and going to birthday parties, or even watching sailboat racing on tv. I know, because I did all of those, and enjoyed every one of those that I was outside for. I even made it to church this morning in time to get to choir. I also got to perform with Lisa the horn playing turtle, and Debbie Brashier, two MM's who have more talent than myself, I am sure. Anyway our church(First Bapt., Jackson) had a special guest singer and the full orchestra, and it really blew me away this morning. What a great way to cap off the weekend.

My time was better this week despite the poor food choices I made, and I loved going back on those trails on the rez. Shout out to Debra and Suz for hanging with me. They both had those belts and lots of goodies, and kept me going. I know everyone gets tired of hearing this, but I already laugh at how much farther we are going than we did just a couple of months ago. I am really getting so much out of this already, and it is still just May. Well, I am babbling and having trouble blogging due to the various interuptions of getting kids bathed, ready for bed, etc. I hope you all have a great week and look forward to seeing you all next Saturday.

Happy Mutha's Day!

Whew! 9 miles was quite a Mutha! That sums up my feelings about the 9mi. run...... However, to expand...

I am coaching a 6 year old baseball team for my son, and we had our photo scheduled by the league at 9:45, and a game at 10:45am. Anyway, at about 8:30am I still had a ways to go and told Suzanne (Thanks, Suz!)I'd start skipping my walk intervals and the last watering station, and cut left to head back to fleet feet. Well, I felt pretty good, until turning onto Towne Centre, and then going up that last hill. I should have stopped at the Fire station and got some water, but all I could think about was getting done and hitting the showers. Anyway, I made it with my fastest pace yet, got my congrats from the Nike +iPod("This is Lance Armstrong, congratulations on your longest workout yet") and I jumped in the truck to hit the a/c, whip by Fleet Feet to get my goody bag, and finally pooped out. I got lightheaded, thought I might lose it, and had to lay on the sidewalk to get my self together.

I learned my lesson..... Hydrate or die.

Thanks to Jill McInnis, who came over with some water .....and looked ready to call 911 for me. I bounced back, sped home, choked down a quick breakfast and 2 monster drinks, a gatorade and a water, and got to the photo shoot, pitched the game(which by the way, they were awesome against the Tigers) and drank two more gatorades, and spent most of the rest of the day taking it easy.

Finally, thanks to all for the kind words about the Ridgeland Multi-purpose trails. I never thought I'd ever get that much use of them, but I was on the first "Trails and Greenspace Committee" that laid out where we wanted trails(I didn't really do much, but having a committee was a Federal requirement for the money), the city then applied for grant money to build them. We just awarded bids for another section, and they will link over all the way to Highland Colony Parkway. I have definitely decided there are some ways to improve them with little expense, and I plan to push to get some simple watering stations, extend the trail to the #3 fire station(a good watering hole and bathroom with lots of EMT's), and start looking more closely at our plans for maintenance and upkeep. I'd also like to see 1/2 mile markers and some sort of "Trail Map" at the main entrances. I don't have an answer for those women who want to run alone, as putting in cameras probably would not help, and would be costly. I do recommend running with others. If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Mother's Day for all you Mother's....

3% of MM'rs trapped in Laundrymat Bathrooms?

Is it just me, or did anyone else think Suz', Debra's & D'Ann's encounter with the Raymond Landromat was somewhat hillarious? Okay, I know I am being insensitive, but we probably had 100 runners in the 10K, yet 3 get stuck in the same bathroom with a bad doorknob? What is more shocking to consider is that there were probably more that got stuck but those were the only 3 brave enough to admit that they got stuck! It sounds like Mark needs to work to get another sponsor for MM next year.
"Marathon Makeover, sponsored by: Monster Energy Drinks, Great Harvest Bread, Fleet Feet, and Port-a-Potty" Well, anyway, off to get my Tuesday run in.
Thanks ladies for the great laugh, and being brave enough to share it. You gals are true Marathoners!