If this is Tuesday. . .

. . . it must be a Tempo.

I find myself looking forward to my Tuesday tempo runs. If I just had to run 3 miles, I think I'd be bored. I like forcing myself to pick up the pace. Last week I didn't wear my Garmin and ended up short by about 1/10 of a mile. Today I wore the Garmin and stopped the timer at 3.4 miles.

I felt I started easy, but I'm finding that I have alot to learn when it comes to "feel." What I should do is start out purposely s l o w. Anyway, here's my splits. I tried to hold the faster pace for 15 minutes. Since the garmin tells me mile splits, it's kind of hard to tell. I'm aiming for more of a parabola than a tabletop.

Lap 1 9:38
Lap 2 8:48
Lap 3 9:30
Lap 4 9:33 (.40miles)

Total Distance: 3.4/ Total Time: 31:48/ Avg. Pace 9:20

MTD: July 124.88 miles

You Really Like Me!

Ok, so I was "tagged" by Tea today which means I won this cool "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award. Whoo! Hoo! I just love to win stuff!

Now the rules of this game, as I understand them, are

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok, here goes:

EIGHT RANDOM FACTS/HABITS ABOUT MYSELF

1. I can belch with the best of them but not on command.

2. I dated someone 15 years before he became a contestant on Survivor: Pearl Islands.

3. I love birthday cake with buttercream icing.

4. I have never had a cavity.

5. My mother-in-law drives me crazy.

6. I have a younger brother and a younger sister.

7. I'd like to have blonde hair.

8. I've always had a crush on Mr. Darcy.

Now, this part is really hard, in fact, nearly impossible. I'm supposed to tag another cool blogger girl to give the award to. But the thing is, the only other female blogger I read is Tea! BUT, because of Tea tagging me, I have discovered some other cool women who's blogs I'm going to have to read more regularly. Like HAR who is a breast cancer survivor who blogged about getting her new boobs after breast reconstruction. This, I think, is totally cool because no one ever talks about that and truthfully, that's the kind of real stuff that people like to know about. And Amanda who's visit to my blog clued me in to Tea tagging me. And Meggan Ann who I know from the V-Boards and I didn't even know she was a Blogger too!

So, thank you Tea for my award! If I ever win another one, I promise I will be able to pass it on.

Still at it

After yesterday's "character building" run, I was ready for some cross training.

2 miles warmup on the bike (yes, lame, I know)
Bench press (10 db) - 3X20, 1X25
DB curl on bosu (10db) - 3X20
Lat pull v-grip (12.5) - 3x20, 1x25
Pushups one leg up - 4X8 SS Pikes - 4X10
Seated row (12.5) - 4X20 SS Stairs (every other step) 4X3
Core (V-ups/ leg push things)
Stretch

There's a distinct possibility that I might wash my car today which is excellent cross-training also!

13 Miles Take 2: Mind Over Body

After being laid flat by cramps this morning, I spent half the day in my P.J.s. I knew I had to do this 13 miler today or I would never make it up tomorrow.

My plan was to wait until this evening when the weather would be cooler. At 2:30 I looked on Weather.com and saw that cooler temps wouldn't arrive until 10:00PM. I'm not a nighttime runner, so that left me no choice. I'd have to just do it during the heat of the afternoon. First, though, I plotted out a 13 mile course on mapmyrun.com and loaded it onto my Garmin. How cool! It gave me a map and pointed me in the right direction throughout my run.

At 3:15 it was 84 degrees and the sun was shining. I started running and thought "it's really pretty warm out here." An hour later, Scott found me with the car and brought me a cold water. It was 88 degrees and still sunny. An hour after that, when Scott delivered another bottle of water, it was cooling off -- 86 degrees.

I shuffled through the miles. I had mild cramps when I started, but didn't pay too much attention because of the heat and the fact that I slowed so much that my gait changed thus causing my legs to get tired and sore. All along I kept thinking to myself: "MIND OVER BODY. MIND OVER BODY."

I'm not sure how much I drank, but I know it was alot. I started with 4 7 oz bottles, filled them all up at least once and had 2 16 oz botttles of water delivered to me. Some got poured over me. I drank the rest. I would say too that it's useful for other reasons to wear a skirt, but that might be TMI. Guys, you don't know how lucky you are.

I stopped at exactly 13 miles. Not a step further. I got it done. I'm still on schedule.

WTD: 31YTD: 816.20

13 Miles Take 1: Body Wins

I WILL run 13 miles today. I don't know exactly when, but it will happen. I got up at 6:30 with cramps and tried to leave at 8:00. When I couldn't even stand up straight, I knew it wasn't going to happen for me this morning so I took a shower (I had already sprayed sunscreen all over my body) and went back to bed. I promptly fell back asleep and dreamed that I was hemorraging. I'm still in my pajamas, but tonight I hope to be back in my running clothes. The Gatorade and water should be really cold by then.

Down in the Valley

Todays workouts:

Warmup bike
uni-Lateral hops on/over riser (5 each leg) X 2 SS Pushups using handles 15 X 2
Reverse lunges on bosu (20) X 4
Pikes on ball (10) SS Rebounder w/ 7.5 lb ball X 4
uni military presses on bosu (8lb dbs) X 10 ea. leg X 2
uni military presses on bosu (8lb dbs) X 10 ea. leg SS Deadlifts on bosu (8lb dbs) X 10 x 2
Assisted pull-ups (45) x 10 SS wall sits (1:00) X 3

Then it was outside for a 3 mile "recovery" run which turned out to be pretty difficult because of the course I chose. My average pace was 10:25, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Therefore, I'm attaching a picture of the course elevation.

Over the Hill

I don't know why I can't just go out and run. If I don't have a plan these days, it seems I'm bored silly. Today called for six miles. Of course, I can't just run 6 miles. That would be torture. Nooo.!!! So, I came up with another plan. I'll run 3 miles into my 6 mile route, which will bring me to the top of a big hill. Then I'll run down and up the hill as many times as it takes to hit 4 miles. Then I'll run back home, taking a shortcut, which will make it exactly 6 miles. I ended up running up the hill 3 times. It was longer than I thought and the first time, I got my heart rate up a little too high, judging from the fact that I nearly puked at the top. I completely messed up the lap thing on the Garmin, so I couldn't keep track of anything except total miles and average pace.

Total miles: 6
Avg. Pace: 9:52 (including hill climbs)

I realize that my average paces are getting faster. Sometimes I feel like I'm just slogging along, but my splits tell a different story. Also, I am not really bothered by the heat like I used to be in previous summers. Maybe that's because I'm able to focus on things other than the heat.

It's about time to buy new shoes. I might do that later this afternoon.

3

Up at 7 and out the door at 9. It seems I was lacking motivation this morning. It took me two hours to persuade myself to run 3 miles.

Oh, well. 3 mile run this morning. Well, let's call it 2.9. One of my portable electronic devices... Garmin... wasn't charged and I did a course from memory. Only it turns out my memory was a little off.

I made it a tempo. Warmed up the first mile, ran about 5k pace the second, and slowed down some on the third. Nothing eventful. Just miles in the log.

Cross

Cross-training today. Here's how I crossed:

Stationary bike for 20 minutes (4 something miles)
Forward & Reverse walking lunges SS jumprope (100) X 3
Plie squats on bosu 4 X 30 SS Woodchops (small ball) 4 20
Jump squats on riser 4 X 15 SS Bike (level 5) 4 X 1:30
Pushups (bosu) 4 X 15 SS Mountain climbers 4 X :45

I hate, hate, hate mountain climbers. I'm sure real mountain climbers don't do anything like a mountain climber.

Freddie is still sleeping. It is almost 11:30 AM. Could it be that he doesn't need one of his pain meds? Or was he up late (early) finishing Harry Potter?

End of Week 3

Just because it's a step-back week, does it have to be easy?

I chose one of my more difficult routes for 8. The first 4 miles are easy, but the last four really bite. In fact, I knew it would be hard, but just to make it more challanging, one of the roads I run on was undergoing some "construction." Ok, to be specific, the entire road was gone and all that was left was dirt and rock. The sidewalks were being replaced and the road and driveways hadn't yet been completed so I couldn't run on the sidewalks without having to jump up onto them every few feet. AND it was completely uphill. In fact, the last 4 miles is uphill all the way.

I finished in 1:27. Avg. pace: 10:57. My slowest mile was on the unpaved road construction road and it was 11:44.

WTD: 26.37
YTD: 785.20

Another Double

Now I know how early I have to go to bed in order to be fresh at 7 AM. 9:30. Ok, it's not like I get to sleep straight through. I still have to get up at 4AM to give Freddie medicine, which really means that I get up around 3 and stress about not hearing the alarm on my watch. So, given a night of interrupted sleep, that's what time I have to go to bed. And I'm exhausted when I do go to bed at 9:30!

7 AM: I'm up with the meds for Fred and dressed and out the door for 6 miles at marathon pace by 7:45. My goal is 4:20 so I aimed for a 10min. pace. Not happening. Every mile I thought to myself: "10 minute pace" and every mile my Garmin said under 10. What to do? Stress about it or just go with it? Here's what I'm talking about:

Mile 1 9:41
Mile 2 9:30
Mile 3 9:41
Mile 4 9:30
Mile 5 9:46
Mile 6 10:13

Avg. Pace: 9:44. It's pretty close and I'm giving myself bonus points for consistancy. There was a time, not to long ago, that it would have taken a miracle to see those kind of numbers. I'm not going to stress about it. Maybe it just takes about that many miles to hit my target pace. Anyway, I still have 106 days to work on it. (LOL-- I just got an email from NYRR yesterday that said 107 days till the marathon).

Ok, so, the run out of the way, it was time to hit the weights. Upper body focus today. And by-the-way, I wouldn't ordinarily lift on the weekends because of the intense running schedule, but my schedule is out of whack this week with taking care of Freddie.

Calf raises on the sled (13) 3X15
DB curl into reverse military press (8) 3X20
Rev. lat pull (20lb) into pushups (15) 3X15
Rope pushdowns uni leg (7.5-22.5) 4X10 [increased weight each rep]
Core work on bench: reverse crunches and a bunch of other hellish stuff.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another gorgeous day, even cooler in the morning than today, so I plan to enjoy my 8 mile LONG run.

_______

On another unrelated topic, today is HP Day: Harry Potter Day. I ordered the book from BN.com and it's guaranteed to arrive today. Freddie is opening the front door every ten minutes looking for the book. Even I am a little bit caught up in the hype and I've only read books 1-3. I guess I have some catching up to do. I wonder how many miles I'd have to run in order to listen to HP books 4-7 on my ipod?

Recovery

Last year I entered the New York City Marathon. The race started and immediately I was the last of the runners. It was embarrassing. The guy who was in front of me, second to last, was making fun of me. He said, "Hey babe, how does it feel to be last?" I replied: "Do you want to know?" and I dropped out.



Well, I don't plan on dropping out. Nor do I plan on being last. I'm not missing any runs; even the dreaded "recovery runs."

Tonight I ran 3 miles. Because I ran a tempo on Tuesday and did a double workout on Wednesday, I thought my legs needed a "recovery" run today. Normally I hate forcing myself to run slow. When I looked at the McMillan calculator, the pace based on my goal marathon time (4:20) for a recovery jog is something like 11:30 m/miles. Wow! Slow! I ended up not wearing a watch and guessed at a 3 mile route. I took it easy and it actually felt good. Relaxing, even. At 25 minutes I was stopped by a neighbor who wanted to talk about Freddie, so I even had a little 4 minute break. Afterwards, I felt refreshed enough to jog all the way home. It's been storming off and on all day and the heat and humidity hasn't broken yet but it didn't bother me. Yes, I was drenched and salty, but I don't know... maybe something about running in the early evening... things look alittle different... I took a little different route. But it was nice. Enjoyable.

Tomorrow's a scheduled rest day. Wouldn't you know, it's supposed to be gorgeous?

Shredded

I'm really becoming a genius at time management. I can't leave Freddie home alone with all the medication he's on, so I'm being as creative as I can with scheduling my workouts. I'm not an evening runner, but I may have to become one as long as someone has to watch Freddie all the time. It's not as if I can put him in a jogging stroller -- LOL -- that would suck.

I got my first strength workout of the week in this morning. Of course, because I told my trainer that I was running 6 miles sometime today, I ONLY WORKED LEGS. Hello? What's with that? Aren't you listening Personal (Non-runner) Trainer? SIX MILES! TODAY! Apparently not. This is what I did this morning:

Squats on bosu 20 x 2
Reverse lunges on Bosu (15 ea. leg) SS Jump squats on riser (20) x 3
Hamstring curls (10 ea. leg) [I think I'm forgetting something here]
Leg Press (90 lb) 20 SS Stairs (5) X 3
Front step ups on plyo box (10 ea. leg) Side stepups on box (10 ea. leg) x 2

After that I made a quick stop at the grocery, came home, and took a 2 and a half hour nap. Those 4 and 7 am medicine runs are murder.

Tonight my parents came over so I could get my 6 miles in. You would think it would cool off as the sun goes down, but it doesn't. I chose the hard six by way of the park just so I could have the diversion of the wooded trails. When I got home I was drenched, but I managed to watch the last half hour of Dancing With the Stars without offending anyone.

It's 10PM and I still haven't showered. Freddie had some visitors come over about an hour ago and I'm ready to go to bed.

Rant

This is going to be a rant, so if you don't want to read it just surf away from my blog right now. If you stay, don't say I didn't warn you. If you see yourself in my ire, then so be it.

My son was in the hospital for four nights. He had invasive chest surgery. The only reason he is not in tremendous pain is because he is on extremely serious pain medication and muscle relaxants, not because his surgery was "minor" or he has a "high pain threshold" or because he has "bounced back" already. This is called PAIN MANAGEMENT. Thank goodness for it. As his mother, I set two alarms in order to give him the medicine he needs on time so that he doesn't experience terrible pain.

A friend of mine told me about "CarePages." I am experienced with maintaining my own website, so I set up a CarePage for Freddie. I sent it to anyone who I thought might be interested in reading about Freddie's progress. It's remarkable how many people called us upon receiving the link to the CarePage out of concern for Freddie before he even had his surgery. It's remarkable how many people who are not our closest friends and relatives check on the CarePage, and even leave messages for Freddie (although some don't but I know they check). But what is truly remarkable, is how many close relatives have decided that the CarePage alleviates them from making an actual phone call or a visit to see how we're doing. Apparantly, by creating the CarePage, I've relieved people of an unpleasant burden -- that of actually caring.

Finally, as it was when Freddie was in the hospital, and now still with him being at home, our lives go on. Is it too much to ask that when someone says they are coming to town to help out, that they actually do help out while they are here? Or instead of saying "We'll come see you after dinner," how about "Can we bring you dinner? We want to come see Freddie."

A couple of people have gone out of their way to be helpful, and their actions are so appreciated. My good friend Heidi calls everyday, went to the grocery for me and brought lunch to the hospital while Freddie was in surgery. My brother and sister-in-law took Sarah for most of the day, thus allowing us to spend undivided time at the hospital with Freddie. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Let me just finish with one more thing, almost unrelated. I got up early this morning to give Freddie his meds and decided to get my run in while Scott was still here. Because it is just us, and Sarah has camp, Scott is going to work late every day and leaving early to take Sarah and pick her up. We thought we would have assistance this week, but apparently we don't. But I digress.

3 mile tempo run today. The nice weather has left us and we are left with this gross muck, so thick it feels like you could cut it with a knife.My run looked like this:
Avg. Pace 9:42. I'm pretty pleased with it.
Mile 1: 10:13
Mile 2: 8:52
Mile 3: 10:03
Mile .37 3:32 (9:41)

Crosstraining?

How I Crosstrained today:

I got up early.
I took Sarah to daycamp.
I packed up and carried all of Freddie's belongings to the parking garage.
I filled prescriptions.
I ate lots of junk food. Lots.
I took a nap.

Just Plodding Along...

I was able to get up and do a long run today. I'm home and finished and my daughter is still not awake yet. At 1.5 miles I was ready to turn around and go home, but why? I would still be waiting for Sarah to wake up before I could go to the hospital anyway. I may as well finish. Physically, it felt fairly easy. Mentally it was a tough run. When my mind is distracted, like it is now, I can't just let go and run. I walked a little towards the end and welcomed the traffic lights that forced me to stop. There was no particular reason that I had to stop and walk. I just did.

I ran 10.77 miles; average pace 10:46.

I guess all that worry about whether I would be able to run was just wasted energy. I've discovered that when your child is nearly 17 and can speak for himself, there is no reason to exhaust myself by sleeping at the hospital. My husband got up when I did and is already there. We'll trade off all day. I think Freddie might be coming home tomorrow.

WTD: 28:71
YTD: 734:80

I didn't sleep in the hospital last night. It's true. No one gets any rest in the hospital. Scott and I both decided that since Freddie's care is so good, we would both sleep at home. As it turned out, it worked out best for all of us. Freddie was able to sleep last night too.

I woke up early to run. Scott went ahead to the hospital. I only had to run 5 miles and the weather was perfect. Sunny, cool, slightly humid. Only I couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking "oh, halfway done..." but I felt like I was measuring the distance in inches instead of miles. I cut the run short by about a half a mile. I'm a couple of miles ahead for the week, but today's was supposed to be at marathon pace. It wasn't.

Concentration and focus are so important. I was worried that Freddie's epidural would come out today and I couldn't focus on my run. Tomorrow I'm supposed to run 11 miles. I don't think I'm going to skip it (though the epidural WILL come out tomorrow), but it's a good thing that I'm supposed to run it slow.

What could be worse than trying to sleep while squeezed into a coach seat on an overseas flight? How about trying to sleep in the fold out chair in your child's hospital room. I know I shouldn't complain. After all, I'm not the one with three incisions and a metal rod in my chest. And in all truthfullness, the poor patient didn't get any sleep either. Let's face it. Hospitals are not a place for rest and sleep.

The doors to the room are sliding glass patio doors. Privacy is obtained by closing the curtains that only go 3/4 of the way to the floor. The room is never dark due to the floorlight that's always on and a similar light installed right into the bottom of the bed. Monitors are continually going "ding dong." The sounds you are barely aware of in the bustle of the day become continuous distractions during the long hours of the night.

The care here at Children's is amazing. If you have ever experienced a hospital stay where you feel like there are no nurses when you need them, here there are nurses everywhere. They check on Freddie at least every half hour. He is monitored by the nursing staff, the pain management team, and this morning (at 5:30) the entire surgical team came in to check on him. I estimate there were about ten of them crowded in the room!

The really nice thing about being in this hospital, and how lucky we are to have Cincinnati Childrens' right here in our own town, is that every doctor we know comes to visit. We feel so well cared for. I even feel like Freddie would be fine if I didn't sleep here tonight. Of course, I have to let Scott have the experience of sleeping here at least one night. ;)

Squeezing it in

Beautiful running weather today. The fresh air you all said was coming, did indeed show up yesterday afternoon. It's a top-down day if I wasn't going to be spending it in the hospital.

I ran 4 miles this morning. 39:20 total. I've been trying to add a few miles this week to the low-mileage days since I'm not sure if I'll get a long run in this weekend. I'll just try to squeeze in some short ones when I can. Cincinnati Children's Hospital isn't exactly in the safest neighborhood, so I can't just go out of the hospital to run. Possibly, I can drive to UC and run on the track. If I do, five miles is probably my limit. I'm not sure how many ovals I can stand to run.

Well, off to shower. We have to be at the hospital by 10. Surgery is scheduled for 11:30.

Two for the Price of One

Two workouts today.

Running: 5 miles on the treadmill. 1% grade. 1 mile warmup then 5 X 800 repeats at approx. 8:30 pace. Probably a little faster taking into account the 1%. I don't really feel like checking the conversion chart.

Weights:
Chest press (15db) – 4x15

Push-ups on bosu – 4x10

One arm row (20) – 4x15

Push-up row – 4x10

Db curl into Rev military press (10) – 4x15

Rev pike on bosu – 3x15 SS

Plank with feet on bosu – 3x :30

Tough, tough upper body workout that I'll be paying for tomorrow and Friday. I need it though.

Wet

Ugh. Why bother getting up early to run in a sauna? Here's what was waiting for me:

72 degrees
89% humidity
Wind: calm (translate: none)

3.4 miles recovery with some strides at the end. 34 minutes and change. I'm leaving a puddle in the seat of my Herman Miller chair. Good thing it's mesh.

Working out my Life

Weights today. No mercy from the trainer.

Leg extension 55lb 4 X 15
Split squats (10 lb dbs) 4 X 10
Deadlifts on bosu (10 lb dbs) 3 X 15
Unilateral hip lift on bosu 3 X 15
Stairs (every other) (10 lb dbs) 3 X 5
Military press uni leg (10 lb dbs) x X 10

I told Aaron (my trainer) that the most recent issue of Runners' World referred to a study that suggested that running stairs didn't simulate running hills and that to run hills better, you need to run hills. Aaron agreed, but stated that since I have improved on the hills and I run stairs also, that I am evidence that running stairs does help somewhat. So, my little strategy to get out of running the stairs didn't work.

Freddie, my oldest son, goes into the hospital for surgery this Thursday. Of course, I am wondering how this is going to effect my training schedule. I wonder if there is a gym with treadmills at the hospital? I plan on staying with him at the hospital and that will result in some challenges to getting in my Saturday and Sunday runs. To run 11 miles on Sunday will mean taking 3 hours off from the hospital (including drive time, run time, and shower). I wonder if I could get away with running just half that many miles, say 6 miles, and still jump back into the program. I'm pretty sure that I can since my fitness base if pretty high and my running fitness is too. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how things pan out over the weekend. I'm also toying with the idea of not running at all on Saturday and Sunday.

The Nest is Full Again: End of Week 1

The kids have been at camp for nearly a month and Scott and I can measure our time alone in empty bottles of wine. This last week, especially, we've added five bottles to the recycling bin. We haven't accomplished this feat alone, but always with friends. Like the few short years before the kids came along and demanded that their social lives and entertainment come first, we were able to enjoy just. . . being. No set schedules. No carpools. No homework or text messages. We ate when and what we wanted. We slept when we wanted. We even hit golf balls together. Best of all, we had time to join our friends for dinners and even tried three new restaurants. That's more adventure than we are able to squeeze into eleven months with three kids in the house!

This morning I paid the price, somewhat, for enjoying all that wine and good food. With the kids arriving at 10:30 and ten miles on the schedule for me, I had to get up early to both beat the heat and the bus. That meant five hours of sleep when the alarm clock woke me at 5:45AM. But I was out the door by 6:45. The first mile was wonderfully pleasant, but by 7:00 the sun makes it's presence known and the humidity is almost choking. Add to that last night's wine, and well, let's just say it was a long ten miles. At least it felt interminable to me, but my pace was right on target for a long run. Actually, maybe even a little fast. My average pace was 10:48 when it probably should have been more like 11:00 or 11:15.

It's just so difficult to run that slow now. I know I need to, but it feels like a shuffle. The good news is, this is only the end of week one. I have 17 more weeks to work on it.

WTD: 27.9
YTD: 734

Happy Campers

This morning was my first Saturday run at marathon pace. I'll try do do these at 10:00 m/m give or take .05 seconds. Today I ran 5 miles with my average pace being 9:53. Not bad. It is super hot already so I'm going to have to make a real effort to get out the door by 7AM in order to beat the heat on my 10 miles tomorrow. I felt like I was making an effort the entire run. Is it supposed to feel this way? I didn't feel like it was "race" hard, but it was not easy.

The kids come home from camp tomorrow morning, so if I don't get my run in early I'm screwed. I'll be at the laundramat all day washing a months' worth of clothes, sleeping bags, and blankets. Oh, how fun! Then I get to pack two of them up again for more camp!

Here are some photos of the happy campers. It's amazing how clean they all look, but these were taken Friday night, Shabbat. It's a Jewish camp so Friday nights are a big deal and they all dress up. My kids are the blondest (and cutest) in all the pics. :)

A Run in the Park

I thought about taking a day off to rest my legs, but no. Friday is "rest day" and it's only Thursday.

Strength today:

Squats (bar) - 4x20

Deadlifts (bar) - 4x15

Rev lunges (bosu) - 1x15

Rev lunges (bosu) (5lb db) - 3x10

Rebounder 4x20 (7lb ball) SS plank 4x 1:00

I needed to run 3 miles, but I wanted to go slow so I stopped at the park on my way home. Nothing slows me down like the trails. I ran 3.33 miles in 44 minutes. Yup. Nothing slows me down like the trails. However, nothing gives me peace of mind like the trails either.

When I was almost done, I briefly lost focus and turned my ankle. I fell and caught myself, then did a brief body check to see if everything was still working. I can feel a slight twinge, but I think it's fine.

Here's a few photos of the park where I run. I took these in the evening so it looks completely different than when I run.

French Park, Amberley Village

Conquer the Hill 10K

There is truth in advertising. At least when it comes to the Conquer the Hill 10k. I truly dread this race. So much that I secretly wish to be busy on the 4th of July so that I'll have an excuse not to run it. This year, I had nothing else to do, so I got up early (my kind of early... 6:30) so that I could get to the race to register by 7:30.

My goal is to PR at every distance I race before I graduate from the 40-44 age group. I'm 44 so I want to leave this bracket with a bang. Anythng under 59:00 would have done it for me. My goal was 54:xx which I think is supported by my training. Any other 10k, I might have stood a chance. Not this one.

As the name suggests, this race has hills. One significant hill, in particular. It comes immediately at the start of the race and doesn't crest until you almost hit the 1 mile mark. It's a 200 foot climb. Yes, what goes up does come down, but I was never able to recoup what I lost on the ups. I gave it my all in the effort department. I passed alot of other runners and even beat a few men who have beat me before. I ran on tired legs -- a cumulative fatigue from racing on Saturday, trail running on Sunday, weight training on Monday, and running yesterday. I raced this one for fun, though, so I'm not disappointed with my performance. My legs felt tired at mile 5 but I kept the momentum going. I noticed that I had no "kick" left at the end and even entertained thoughts of walking with only .2 left to go. Can you believe it? I literally had nothing left at the end of this race.

By the way, the course is almost entirely residential. This race is a big deal to the community and lots of people were out in their yards cheering us on. Sprinklers were on too and with the starting temperature in the low 70s, I did my best to run under the sprinklers. My timing was woefully off! The race was well-supported with water stops every mile. All in all, a difficult course, but an enjoyable experience. Somewhere after mile 4 a man ran up next to me, and I swear he was flirting with me! "I really like that skirt." and "You have a really nice voice" (after I screamed at some 4 abreast walkers to move to the right). I told him my husband was at the corner and he took off. Oh, well...

My official finish time is 56:56. It's at least a 2.5-3 minute PR for me. I came in 5th in my age group. I think there were 19 in my group. Here are my splits (maybe I ran up the first hill a little fast :) )

Mile 1 9:09
Mile 2 8:21
Mile 3 9:10
Mile 4 9:44
Mile 5 9:07
Mile 6 9:10
.26 9:13

I'm going back to Indiana

I took my son, Adam, back to camp this morning. It's out in the sticks of Indiana. Route this, State Route that. Through towns with names like Rising Sun and East Enterprise. I got there fine, but coming home I kept getting turned around. At one point, I was at a four way stop and for the life of me couldn't remember which way to go. I just pulled into a parking lot and sat in my car for a good five minutes trying to figure it out! I was wishing for a navigation system but my husband says how often do you get lost that you need $600 directions? Nice. Anyway, I got it going again and passed a roadside market. Finally! Fresh, locally grown tomatoes! And cucumbers, beans, zucchini, melon, green onions, and honey! Whoo! Hoo! Summer is here.

The kids didn't have too much interest in seeing me at camp so I didn't stay long. Adam and Sarah are both going back for 4 more weeks and 2 more weeks. It'll be expensive, but probably better that they're not hanging around here while Freddie is recovering from his surgery.

Random: I'm sitting on my deck while I write this and a hummingbird just flew up to the impatiens soda shop. I love those little things.

So, I got up early this morning to do my run. Not Vivian early. But Natalie early. I was out the door at 8:00 and ran 3.4 miles. The weather has been gorgeous this week. Low humidity and highs in the upper 70s.

Tomorrow is the "Conquer the Hill 10k." I'm going for 54:00. Can I do it? It'll be tough, I know. 6 miles under 9:00. Anything under 59:00 will be a PR. But that would be going against the theme of this blog. I am going for an effort-based PR. Not an easy PR. Will I be successful? We'll know tomorrow.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone. Don't drink and drive and be careful with the fireworks. Especially if you are in a draught area like we are.

Peace.

Here Comes the Son

7.5 miles in 1:39. That's what I call a Long Slow Distance. I set the alarm clock for 6 AM, but didn't get started until 8:00. The weather was perfect, but I knew it would get hot as the sun rose higher, so I ran to the park where the terrain is difficult, but the temperature is cooler. My times are always slow when I run in the park, but sometimes that's the only way I can force myself to take it slow.

My route is about a 2 mile run to the park, about 3.5 on the trails, and about 2 miles back home. The 2 miles home are always the most challanging, mentally and physically. I find that during the first part of the run, I feel light with the anticipation of entering the woods. The miles on the trails are like a different world all together. Then the 2 miles home are a let down. It's hot, it's hilly, the traffic has picked up. Basically, no fun. Sometimes I like to treat myself and drive to the park. That way I get all the fun and none of the work. Pretty soon the blackberries will be ripe. The vines were overflowing. I wonder if they'll be picked by a human before the deer and the birds get to them?

My injured son is reluctantly coming home from camp for a couple of days. His cabin is going on a rafting trip and with his foot in a boot and walking on crutches, he can't participate. Instead of staying at camp with the younger kids and moping, he's coming home (to mope). We'll have to go out for a drive in the new buggy!

WTD: 26
MTD: 101.05
YTD: 706.09