Flying By

Where does the time go???? Between work, family, running & friends the days just speed away from me.

Tuesday night was our "Tuesday Flyer's" clinic. We were supposed to do a mile time trial, but we got kicked off the High School track because of Soccer games. It was wickedly windly and cold Tuesday night and the roads in the neighborhood we were running on were very uneven, it was getting dark and with the wind Dennis made the decision to postpone the trials for another night. We were ALL so relieved!! The work out ended up being kind of a farlek run... I never could understand/hear what Dennis was saying the advanced workout was so we decided to just stick with the intermediate.
It was a very large group Tuesday night with quite a few new people. One of them was Josh's wife Kelly, she is a real sweetheart!! She and Cheryl did the workout together and Arland, Bailey and I ran together. We were supposed to run 3x1min. at LT pace with a 1 minute rest inbetween then 1x2min with a min rest and then 3x1min with a min rest. It really wasn't enough but considering that I didn't even really want to go Tuesday night I wasn't unhappy!
So the LT pace didn't happen.. no we were running way faster than LT pace! We were only running for a minute at a time so we just kind of ran pretty fast. A couple of times Bailey would tell me to slow down and I did for the most part. Well I think it was the last one or maybe the next to last one Bailey was in front of me and I was catching up to her, she kept telling me to slow down but I just kind of hung beside her... well she dropped back and grabbed the hood of my jacket and physically made me slow down!!! Sheeesh!! So fair warning to everyone if Bailey tells you to slow down don't let her get behind you she will choke you to death ;()

When we were done we chatted with Dennis for a little while and then walked back to the cars with Cheryl and Josh's wife Kelly. I just realized that now we have two Kelly H's. We all chatted for a little while until the wind and cold drove us back into our cars.

As we were leaving I realized we didnt' do our 1 mile cool down run and was feeling guilty about it, but it was too late I had already started to stiffen up and decided to call it a night. I talked to Bailey yesterday and she said she also felt bad about missing it.

Women Can Run

Last night was the first night of the Women Can Run Clinic. It will be every Monday and Thursday night for the next 10 weeks. I have been looking forward to it all winter!
I drove over to Michele's about 5:30ish and we ran the almost two miles to the Field House at the High School. It was very warm yesterday! I thought I was pushing it by wearing a skirt and short sleeves so I tossed on a long sleeve tech shirt as well. I don't think we had even been running for a minute when I had to take it off! I was really wishing I had a sleeveless shirt on!
I forgot my Garmin... again :( luckily Michele's was charged and ready to go. We weren't worried about pace, I just wanted to keep up with how many miles we ran.

Quite a few of the leaders were on the track to direct the ladies into the Field House. This time last year I would have only known one or two of the leaders but now I feel like I am surrounded by old friends.
It was awesome to walk into that Field House and see so many women!!! My old friend and neighbor Trish was there, I haven't seen her in ages!! She joined the walking group. I spoke to her for a few minutes and then excused myself to find Terri. I had been keeping an eye peeled for her since I walked in. I had only gone a few steps when she saw me, I was laughing because I had been looking for her so hard and there she was right in front of me. She is blonder so I almost didn't recognize her. I introduced her to Michele and then we all had a seat to listen to the announcements.
It was nice to catch up with Terri but then they had us go to our seperate groups. I am so proud of Terri she joined the Intermediate group, I thought she was joining the Beginners... she has had several health issues that have prevented her from being able to run and work-out. I know she is going to do great, she is with a great bunch of ladies!
Once we split off I got a chance to meet the others in the Advanced group. Several familiar faces but also several new faces.
Dennis talked to us for a few minutes and then had us head out to the track to do Strides. We would "stride" the straights and jog the curves. It was really really hard to run fast on the track with over a hundred women especially since a lot of them are beginners and don't know proper "track etiquette".
I had to make one stop at the port a potty but it was just a quick one, no stomach issues!! I had lost Michele, and Kelly when I had to make that pit stop so I ran the last two laps alone. Dennis was trying his best to watch everyone so he could give advice on running form. After the mile of strides I walked with one of the new advanced ladies for a few minutes. So far everyone seems really nice.
As we were walking I saw Terri running up ahead of us so I said good bye to Jannette and ran to catch up and run with Terri. She was doing GREAT!!!!!!! As we were coming down the straight away I could hear my name being called so I had to leave her. Dennis wanted to tallk to all of us before we left. He talked a lot about arms and pointed out a few who had "robot" arms and explained the benefit of proper form. We are really lucky to have Dennis coaching at the Women's clinic... and Brenda, Kelly and I are very lucky we now get him 3 nights a week!!

After the clinic Kelly & Brenda ran back to Michele's house with us. It was very very dark and we ran through some kind of scary roads. Kelly was the only one who thought ahead and wore a blinky light. I had brought one but I left it in my car.
It was a good run back I didn't have my Garmin so I don't know our pace, but there were times when it felt like we were running kind of fast.
Michele and I hit 6 miles just a little bit before we got to her house, but we kept running to her mailbox and then we walked the cul-d-sac to cool off... after a bit of stretching I took Kelly and Brenda back to the High School to pick up their cars.

I never got a chance to blog about Sunday's run. It was a tough one for me.. maybe I had too much caffeine on Saturday??? I don't know but whatever it was I just felt like I had dead legs almost the whole run. It didnt' help that we ran a very hilly route (Mt.Tabor loop). It was Bailey, Joan, Michele, Arland and I running together. Cindy, Brenda and Lisa were also there but they were way ahead of us.
After the loop we had 7 miles and had intended to run 10 so we put our heads together to come up with a route. Michele and Arland both came up with suggestions but Arland said a resounding NO to Michele's idea. It was kind of shocking and funny at the same time to hear Arland be so gruff!!! We went in the direction that Michele had suggested anyway but about a 1/2 mile into it I really started feeling bad and decided I was turning around. I knew Michele was feeling good so I suggested she go ahead and run home and I would bring her Lexus to her. Bailey and Arland had also turned around and I thought they were headed back too but after we had made the turn onto hwy 89 I looked back and saw that they were running up Panther Trail so I was on my own. I wasnt' sure if Arland knew what I was doing so I drove to find them and ask him to pick me up at Michele's house. I was really feeling like a big weiney for quitting early but I really didn't have it in me. Once Michele got home we walked through her neighborhood for about 10 minutes until Arland came to get me.
Although I quit early I still managed 8.25 miles.
I dont' remember the splits but I ended up with a 10:27 avg pace and the mile that had the longest and steepest hill was our fastest mile with a 9:38.

I am cutting way back on my caffeine this week, since I don't drink soda's that means limited trips to Daily Grind, Mountain Mudd and Starbucks. Yesterday I had a small Mountain Mudd and today nada.... I hope I can keep it up!

Crack Heads

Yesterday was our last morning as Crackheads... at least for now. Bailey came along with us this week so she could share in the crackhead experience. Unfortuantely Kelly wasn't able to join us. We were thinking about and missing you girl!

It was Michele, Cheryl, Bailey and myself on the run Saturday morning.



It was the normal Saturday morning routine, scoop up the girls at Team 1 and then off to Sherwood to scoop up Cheryl.



The Training group was meeting at the Art's Center, when we drove up I noticed that Channel 7 was there. I don't know that we got any airtime but it was still cool to be part of the whole thing. Of course the best part is when Tom gets on the top of the trunk of his car and yells out "Goodmorning Crackheads" my favorite part, and I think everyone elses too.. he got a big round of applause.

I don't know how I am going to start my long runs with out that greeting in the future. I will never forget the first time I heard it and I hope I get to gear it again soon


I was a bit dissapointed when he said there would be no cookies waiting for us at the end :(



We were running a familiar route, going up to the Governer's Mansions, past Central High School and pretty much zig zagging all through "da hood". Cheryl wasn't too happy about this route, we have done it a lot and we will be on it again next weekend, but I was glad that Bailey was going to get to see a little bit of the 1/2 marathon course.
Central High School

As in all of the training group runs this course has it's fair share of inclines... lot's of long gradual one's that just make you mad!! LOL



It was a good run we all took turns running with each other. It was odd to just be running 6 miles but it felt good!

When we got back to the finish Cheryl wasn't quite at 6 so we ran through the parking lot until she reached her goal. As Cheryl was checking us out Michele said let them drive and let's run back to the Rivermarkt. So I asked Cheryl if she minded.. she said she didn't so off we ran. It was only about a mile and we did have a lot of downhill so that was nice, but we also had more wind and it felt like it was colder than when we started.



When we got back to the Rivermarket we looked to see if the girls had parked in our usual parking spot but we didn't see the Honda so I called Cheryl and she met us outside with the key.

The best part of all of ours runs have been going for "the icing" afterwards. Boulevard Bread Co. has become one of our favorite places and we always look forward to going there. I was a bit dissapointed this morning because they were out of the sugar free hazelnut and sugar free vanilla just isn't very tasty. BUT the toast and jelly made up for it!!! Again I thought about buying a jar, but I would just eat it and that wouldn't be good.





After spending some time there we all left and headed to Cabot to Daily Grind to meet the Cruisers. I was going to drop Cheryl off in Sherwood for her truck so that she could leave Cabot whenever she wanted... but nope I was too busy either talking or listening to someone else talk and I completely missed both Sherwood exits!!

I also missed the exit to take Michele back to Team 1 but I improvised and it was no biggie. We dropped Michele off and head to Daily Grind for round 2 of coffee and breakfast.
The coffee at Daily Grind was soooooooo good and Donna serves it with a chocolate covered espresso bean.. oh yeah that's good stuff!

Cindy,Brenda,Lisa,Jackie and family joined us and then Arland came a little bit later. Everyone was all abuzz about nexts weeks race. They all had advice and stories for Cheryl. I don't know if it helped but I hope so. Of course I freaked her out when I told her she had "taper madness"!
I hope yesterday morning showed Cheryl how much everyone cares about her and how many people will be thinking of and supporting her next weekend.



Michele has been needing some new running shoes so at some point yesterday morning we all decided we would to go Conway to our favorite running store.. the Sporty Runner.

We planned to leave Cabot at 2:00 and then meet Cheryl there. On the way to Team 1 to meet Bailey, Michele and I stopped at Mountain Mudd for coffee # 3 for me and 2 for her.

Cheryl was alread there waiting for us when we arrived.

You can just imagine the four of us together, we were all full of it, Michele and I were over caffinated and Bailey was just ... Bailey! LOL Michele was trying on shoes and then she would run up and down the store while the experts watched. Bailey called out to her "hey do you feel stupid"... "well you look stupid" I was SHOCKED! ;)

Michele and I ended up with new shoes, and Bailey and Cheryl new clothes and stuff.


It was a great day... running, eating, drinking, laughing with friends, and we did a LOT of laughing! what more could you ask for???

ENDURANCE

Endurance... this is what our Wednesday night 8 milers are about. And for me especially last night it is not just physical endurance b mental as well. So many times in the past I would get a little tired and tell myself I couldn't do it, I needed to walk or even stop altogether. Those days are for the most part gone. I do still sometimes think I can't do this, I'm going to stop at 5 or 6 or whatever, but I am blessed to run with some amazing people who together we keep each other going. Last night was a tough one for me, I had MAJOR stomach issues in the second mile, so major that I thought I was done for the night. Luckily my friend the port - a- pottie was not too far away and he helped to save the day. I was really upset, I took an anti-poop pill but it seemed to have the oppostive effect last night! Although once that ordeal was over I didn't have any more problems at all. I'm thinking that part of the problem might be Andrea's super healthy full of fiber muffins I have been eating.. could be??
So after the visit to the port a pottie I was very uncomfortable for a while and thought to myself I am going to stop when we get to Michele's house. So knowing I was on the verge of self sabotage I asked Michele to make sure we had 6 miles before we got back to her house. They all had .75 of a mile more than I did and in my mind I was thinking that would get me at least 5.25 miles. I was still seriously thinking of quitting but at least I would have 5 miles done.
Once things settled down it was a good run... very very very windy which made it pretty darn cold, but we all stayed pretty close together and did a lot of talking. It was great having Arland and Robert with us... and their height came in pretty handy as we would occasionally tuck in behind them to help block the wind!! LOL

Once we got back to Michele's I knew I couldn't stop... I still wanted to but I wasn't going to let the negative thoughts win and besides if I had even hinted that I was thinking of stopping early Brenda and Michele would have put a stop to it!!!
Brenda said we will run until you get 8... my first thought was NO... I'm good with 7.3, but in the end it was great to get the whole eight miles in!!
These runs really are making me much stronger... physically - mentally - emotionally!! I am truly blessed!!

Last night was probably our last "Wednesday 8" until after the Women Can Clinic. The clinic starts on Monday and either on Monday or Thursday we are planning on adding on aftterwards to get in our mid week - mid long run.
I'm really looking forward to the Clinic, Dennis is going to be our Coach so I get him for 3 nights a week until mid May!!
My friend Terri is also going to do the Clinic and I am so excited that I am going to get to see her two nights a week!! We live right across the street from each other yet we still never see each other, especially during the winter.
The days will be lasting longer soon... Spring is right around the corner, I can almost feel it.

Working & Running - Black Cats and Big Dogs

I've been a busy girl!! We have implemented a new accounting system at work and it is keeping me busy and stressed out!!!!!! I was so worried about how quickly I would catch on etc. but that hasn't been the problem, no the problem is a million little glitches that cause me to constantly have to put on the breaks and undo everything I've done... over and over and over. Kind of like when Robert tried to run in Atlanta last weekend, he constantly had to stop at red lights. Bailey demonstrated it for us last night and it was hilarous!
My stress level has gotten so high that it kind of scares me... my skin gets flushed and I feel feverish and I often feel on the verge of tears. I can just imagine what it would be like if I didn't run almost every day!!!!
Enough about work.... let's talk about the good stuff

RUNNING:
I have had some AWESOME runs this week!!

Monday close to 5:00 Brenda e-mailed that it wasn't looking good for her to get out of work in time to run. I e-mail back no worries I'm running late too.
About 5:45 or so she called and said I'm just going to have to go home and run on the "dreadmill" .. No NO NO I told her NO! we would wait for her, I really was running behind and the later the better for Michele. She said she thought she could get there about 6:45 or if she was lucky 6:35. So when I got to Michele's we decided to run through her neighborhood, we started off at a very EASY pace and just enjoyed the fact that we were running in daylight. We were keeping a close eye on the time to make sure we got back before Brenda. As we were heading down her road, we could see Brenda's car. UT OH.. but hey it's only 6:33. We thought maybe she would be waiting for us or in the house. I ran into Michele's house to use the restroom real quick. I almost didnt' finish the run.. Jame's had made "filet kabob's" and they smelled so good I just wanted to stay and eat and chat with him!
Still no Brenda so we decided to head out on our usual route, we took a shortcut hoping that we would intersect with her. We approaced the cross road's and Michele said well we can go this way or that way. We decided to head in the opposite direction hoping to run into Brenda. Just a short distance later we say a shadow and it was Brenda. woo Hoo!!! Brenda had about 2 miles at that time and we had 2.75. It was a really fun run, we picked up the pace but it wasn't killer, we were able to talk and laugh. My favorite kind of run!! AND no stomach issues!!
It was amazing how great I felt after this run, mentally and physically!!
I had taken Sunday off after the Race on Saturday and although nothing was hurting after the race I think the rest did me good.

Tuesday:
I knew that tonights hill repeats were going to be on a different hill. More of a gradual incline and not as tortous as our normal steep hill.
It was 53 degrees when I was driving home from work yesterday so I dressed in a skrit and short sleeve tech top but threw on a light jacket just in case.
When I got to the school I was freezing!!! As we were listening to Dennis talk Bailey, Cheryl and I all huddled together. It's funny because Cheryl and I both could be Bailey's mom but it felt more like she was the mom and we were the kids last night she had her arms around both of us... but let me tell you it definately helped keep us warmer.
We started off our warm up run and that was exactly what it was... we took it nice and easy!! As we ran by Andrea's house Bailey and I both said we didn't feel the need to use the faciliteis. This would turn out to be a mistake on my part. It was maybe 5 or 10 minutes later when the dreaded poop monster showed up. I had to walk a bit and then I had to completely stop and cross my legs. VERY uncomfortable! We werent' too far away from our hill and things had settled down. I asked Andrea if I could use her restroom and I was going to have Dennis give me a ride but I decided I shouldn't wait so I asked Andrea to send her dad my way when he finished talking. This hill was actually closer to Andrea's than the other one so I was able to make it to her house on my own, I was even able to jog a little bit. I know I have said this before but Andrea's husband is a sweetheart to just let people come and go in his home whenever they please!!! Actually I didn't see him last night he was giving the little one a bath.
When I came out Dennis was waiting for me... boy was I embarassed!!!!!! He gave me a ride back and I got back to the group just as they were finishing their first round. I waited for Bailey and Cheryl to come down. When I saw Cheryl she told me there was a port-a-potty on the hill. I wish I would have know that sooner!!
We were doing 3 uphills with the first 2 at 80% and an easy jog down and then the third uphill you were supposed to run easy and then fly down hill. Although this hill wasn't steep it was really LONG!!!!!!
Intermediate were doing 2 sets for 6 hill repeats and Advanced were doing 3 sets for 9 hill repeats. I had said in the beginning I was going to do the Advanced wokout but after my stomach problems decided to do the intermediate workout. Bailey and I did the workout together for the most part, she would of course fly by me on the way up but she would usually wait for me up top and then we would go down together. On my first trip uphill Brenda also let me know about the port-a-potty and then a minute later Cindy let me know. LOL
I finished my second set at the same time everyone else finished their third. Cheryl had already finished and headed back. Her leg was bothering her again and she didnt' want to take any chances!!!
When we got to the bottom of the hill Bailey said I'll wait here while you do your next set... WHAT? Um no I'm just going to do the intermediate workout. She said NO you are going to do the Advanced! LOL such a bossy girl!
I let Brenda and the others know not to wait on me that I was going to complete my workout. Andrea was worried and offered to come back and get me with her car. So nice to have so many people looking out for you!! She hadn't realized that Bailey was staying and didn't want me to run back by myself.

I was on my last downhill the one we were supposed to "fly" on. As I first started down the hill I saw a black cat, I am very superstitious and this made me a little nervous, it didn't cross directly in front of me, but still you never know. It was maybe 10 seconds later and I was flying, paying attention to my stride and my arms when all of a sudden this HUGE.. I mean HUGE dog came chasing after me barking up a blue streak. I almost had a heart attack!!! It was a good thing I had already used the bathroom otherwise I might have had an accident!!!
Of coruse I had to stop running, I knew if he wanted to attack me I wasn't going to be able to outrun him and I thought maybe if I walked he would calm down. Well he kept coming after me but he would stop just short of actually invading my space. Although it only lasted a few seconds it seemed to last forever!! I was thinking where are Michele, Brenda, Joan all the dog people when I need them!!! LOL
I see Bailey running up the hill towards me, she said she had been watching my shadow when all of a sudden she saw another shadow and it was big and jumping. She came to save me!! LOL Luckily the owner called the dog back but it was over for me. I told Bailey I am not going back up that hill!! LOL
Of course I blame the black cat!!!!!

I was a little worried about the run back to the school... the shock of the dog had my legs feeling a little quivery.
We started off at a good pace and our conversation immediately turned to poop. We told poop stories all the way back to the school. At one point I was getting a little breathless and I said are we racing??? I think it was all the poop talk, it made us want to hurry up and get back!!
I thanked Bailey for making me do that last set... she said she knew I would be mad at myself if I didn't. She already knows me so well!! Brenda does the same thing. If I start talking about cutting a run short she always encourages me to keep going!
When Bailey and I got back to the school I had 4.83 miles so of course I had to keep going until 5 so Bailey and I ran through the parking lot until we both had 5.

Even with the poop, black cat and Dog I had an awesome run last night!!!! It was an adventure that's for sure!!

My Baby

It is rare that I get a picture of Brett.. he usually runs hiding when I pull out the camera. He was sweet enough to indulge me last night and I got two whole pictures!

Pictures

Grand Prix award winners

Cabot Country Cruisers

Look at those red cheeks and puffy eyes! LOL

Bailey.. what a sweetheart! This was her first race of any kind.

My favorite picture.. me with my boyfriend and hubby ;)

My handsome hubby :)

Cindy, Lisa, Brenda and Marianne.

The top pictures were taken at the Grand Prix 2007 awards ceremony. The other's were after the race.

I won first place for my age group for the River Trail 15K race... and then I won a plaque for finishing 4th in my age group for the 2007 Grand Prix races.

I was tickled pink!! :)
More pictures and details to come later... I hope! LOL

RiverTrail 15K

This might be a long post...or I might break it down into seperate posts. This morning was chock full of stuff. The race the awards ceremony and then the Grand Prix awards ceremony.
I'll start with the race.

Since the race was starting at 8:00 and we weren't meeting Michele at Team 1 until 7:00 we got to sleep in a little bit this morning. For the past umpteen weeks I have been getting up at 4:00am for the Little Rock Marathon training group 6:00am run. Yesterday felt weird and I was a little sad to not be planning my run with Cheryl.
My stomach is always such an issue with me, I just don't know what to eat before a race etc. This morning I had 1/2 of a strawberry pop tart. Probably not the best thing nutritionaly speaking but I just couldn't stomach anything heavy. I knew worst case scenerio we were going to be passing the Dog Park port a potty twice and the Skate Park port a potty once. I didn't want to have to stop, but they would be there if I needed to.
Michele had to get back to Cabot right after the race so she followed us over to the Soccer Fields at Burn's Park. She hadn't registered yet so we were trying to hurry to get her there in plenty of time to do so. I asked Arland if he would mind picking up my packet so that I could run to the bathroom. I lucked out there was no line and so I felt comfortable just hanging out in there as long as I needed to. I was able to take care of a bit of business and when I came out the line reached out the door!! LOL
I ran over to find everyone and got to get a hug from Curtis and Gary :)

Joan gathered us all up about 15 minutes before the race to do a warm-up run. Dennis had told us we didn't really need a lot of warm up for a 15K unless we were planning on going out hard. We all ran together and the fast girls did a few strides. Michele and I had talked about this race a lot and we were planning on starting out easy and just keeping a comfortable pace and then in the last couple of miles we could pick it up if we felt like it.
I had also talked to Bailey about the race and she said she would run with us.

There were quite a few people in this race, I don't know the exact number but considering that it was a cold rainy morning I thought it was a good turnout.

During the first mile you are running through parking lot's and have several turns which were a little crowded in the beginning, but once we were on the River Trail it was a straight shot. Bailey, Michele, Arland and I were together. I knew we were going a little faster than I wanted but it felt pretty good so I tried not to worry about it, but when we hit the first mile in 9:33 I did worry a little and said we need to slow down. So we did.. for probably about 30 seconds! LOL
For most of the first 2 miles Arland was running ahead of us, and we were all admiring his strong calf muscles!
Eventually though we caught up with and then passed him. Once we caught up with him Michele told him "Annette pushed us up here, she didn't want us looking at your backside anymore" LOL
Before the race started they told us there would be 2 water stops that we would pass 4 times. Arland was counting on this as I'm sure many others were, but I don't know what happened... maybe not enough volunteers but there was only one water stop and that was at mile 4.5. We did pass it again around the 6 mile mark but then that was it.
When we reached the water stop the first time we all grabbed water and walked a few steps so we could drink it.. maybe 30 seconds??

One of the cool things about this race as an out and back you get to see the lead runners. This of course can be good and bad! I loved it! It is really amazing to see how fast those guys and gal's are! We got to cheer for Gary, Lisa and Curtis, there is a big loop around so we didn't get to see everyone. We didn't pass directly by Curtis but we saw him while we were on the road passing the skate park and he was down in the skate park. He asked us later if that was us scream and cheering for him. He said it really gave him a push and helped him pass someone he had been working on for a while. Gary also said it was great to see us.
I guess it was around the 6.5 mile mark that I started to feel a little fatigued, I started thinking about that pop tart and was wishing I had something to eat. Bailey offered me a shot blok or gel, but Michele cautioned me against it because of my stomach. I decided not to take anything but next time I am going to make sure I have some Luna Moons with me. They are much easier to eat while running than Gu and I haven't had much luck with the Shot Bloks. I had also been battling with the need to pee pretty much since the start of the race. I really hate when that happens, towards the end I needed to go so bad it was starting to hurt a little.

The first half of the race is where most of the hills are, and I remember last year I think I walked up most of them... well I've come a long way since then and I was able to power up every one of them. When we got to the top of the first one Bailey said "ummm why did you just sprint up that hill?" Before I could even answer Michele said "that's just what she does" well it is what Michele does too!! Anyway I told Bailey it is pretty much run as fast as I can up the hills or walk them. I don't know if it is really physical or if it is mental but it just seems so hard to try to run up a hill at my normal pace. I have also learned that once I get to the top I can recover pretty quickly so now I just go for it.

We were able to pass a few people on those hills... there was one guy who I think we suprised when we passed him. I'm sure he thought he would catch up with us when we got to the flat but he never did.

I don't think after the first couple of miles that we ever got passed by anyone, but we passed quite a few. That felt good!!

I had my Garmin set on the screen to show time and avg. pace. Pretty much for the majority of the race we were running at 9:38 to 9:35 avg. pace. I told my self several times during the last 2.5 miles that I really had just planned on avging 9:50 to 10:00 minute miles so it would be ok if I slowed down. Lucky for me I had Bailey and Michele who kept me going. Bailey was just awesome, she could have had a stellar race but she stayed with us. A couple of times she even circled back.
Just before we hit the 8 mile mark Michele asked how far we had run, I said almost 8 and then the beep went off... we looked down and it was 1:15xx. Michele pointed out that was our fastest 8 miles ever. We high fived and that gave me the boost I needed to keep going.

With about 1.4 miles left to go we see Gary, Curtis and Tri-Lisa running towards us. Gosh it was great to see them! Gary and Curtis turned around to run us in. Those two guys are just great. They kept telling us how great we looked, how fast we were running etc. Talk about great motivators.. they never tried to push us just kept up a positive dialoug. Of course I couldnt' talk at this point. Gary asked a few questions and I could really just say yes or no or give a thumbs up! LOL
The last .5 or so of the Race is really hard mentally... you come off the River Trail and start running in the parking lot's...this is just really tough you are kind of zig zagging and it feels like it is NEVER going to end!!! I think we had about .2 left and I just wanted to cry and throw-up. I told Gary I thought I was going to throw-up and he said no your not.. and then he said but it's ok if you do!! I got a little whiney and said when is this going to end. Gary pointed out the finish line, but before that was a police car. He said ok I want you to take a few deep breaths and then when you pass that police car I want you to stretch it out. All I could think was NO F'ing WAY. I have NOTHING left. He said now when you see the clock pick a time you want to finish. I think the clock had just hit 1:30 so he said ok you want to finish in 1:30xx ... I don't know where it came from but I was able to do everything he told me to do and I finished in 1:30:33
Not only did I have Gary running me in but there was a whole group of Cruisers at the finish line cheering us in.

My Garmin showed 9.49 miles. I think part of it was we took all the turns wide and part of it who knows.
The official results were
1:30:33
9:44 pace
My Garmin said 1:30:42.. I didn't turn it off right away.
9:33 pace.

1-9:33
2-9:44
3-9:30
4-9:27
5-9:48 water break
6-9:37
7-9:29
8-9:34
9-9:24
.49-4:33 (9:20 pace)

Girls Night Out

Wednesday night turned out to be just the girls. Robert had other plans and Arland got off work late and decided to just run on the Treadmill.
As soon as we got to Michele's I could tell something wasn't right... she was on the phone with a not too happy look on her face. When she hung up as we had suspected she said it was James and he said he would be home soon. This gave us all time to use the bathroom and Kelly decided to put on a second shirt. It was pretty cold again last night.
I guess all the great runs in a row had caught up with me. I could tell pretty early on that this wasn't going to be an easy run. It didn't help that my stomach also was acting weird, Kelly's shins were hurting and Michele wasn't feeling good either. Poor Brenda she was stuck with us!! LOL I had to make two trips to the port-a-pottie. The first time was kind of just a precaution, we were right there so it made sense to at least try... and as it turned out it was a good thing. The second time we had to head straight to it, no cul-d-sacs. It was right around this time that a neighborhood dog decided he wanted to bother us... he was running at us and barking like an idiot. With my history with dog's I could tell Michele was worried about this one running in front of me. I was at a point where I needed to get to a bathroom as soon as possible and Michele and Kelly hung back to chase off the dog. It was very much appreciated by me!!! We don't usually have too many problems with dog's when we run in the neighborhood, this was only the second time.
I felt better after the pit stop but I just couldn't seem to get my running legs or lungs last night. It was right after the "big" hill or "Michele's" hill as we sometimes call it that i finally just had enough. I had to slow down, although I felt like I was already slow. Michele also wasn't feeling it so we hung back and decided to just take it easy. I was almost tempted to stop when we got to Michele's house, but I wasn't hurting anywhere and my stomach was ok so I knew i would be mad at myself later if I quit. The last two miles were better and I even managed to spint for a bit towards the end.
This wasnt' my best run ever but I did feel a real sense of accomplisment when it was done! I lost a half mile when I had to take my two pottie breaks, and normally we would run until the person with the lowest mileage's Garmin goes off, but I was happy with 7.53!! LOL

7.53
1:19:22
10:32 avg pace
1-9:58
2-9:49
3-10:04
4-13:10 - Potty break
5-9:43
6-11:14 - water break at Michele's house
7-10:18
.53-9:30

Flying High

I had a great workout during our Tuesday Night Flyer's session. It was so cold and windy I really didn't want to go, I even called Cheryl and tried to convince her to go to Starbuck's instead. She hates the cold even more than I do so I thought she would jump at the chance, but she is also very dedicated so she turned me down. I would like to think I was just kidding when I was asking, but who knows what I might have done if she would have agreed. I also called Brenda.. I told her I need her to talk some sense into me! LOL I had also tried to call Kelly but didn't get a hold of her until later. Good thing because she is usually easily persuaded to drink coffee instead of running. Not really but we do kid about it a lot.
We all huddled up around Dennis as he gave us our workout's, acknowledged our speedy runners from the Valentine's day 5K and cautioned those who had been sick to listen to their bodies and not over do it.

Pretty much as soon as we started running I felt a sharp twinge in my ankle, but luckily it passed and I never felt any pain there again. I really wanted to take the 2 mile warm up nice and easy. I knew we had an intense LT workout ahead of us. Bailey, Kelly, Arland,Cheryl and I all kind of ran together. Of course I had to stop at Andrea's for a pit stop, along with Cheryl, Kelly and Rock. Andrea told me to go to the one in her bedroom and her husband was in there, I always feel kind of embarassed but he is a very nice guy and when I thanked him for letting us invade his home every Tuesday evening he just smiled and said something about the "pee train".
Bailey and Arland didn't need to hop on the pee train so they went on without us. When we started running again Cheryl said she was going to have to stop, so Kelly and I ran her back to the school. I felt terrible for her because I know her foot was really hurting and she had driven all the way from Sherwood. We didn't mind at all going back to the school and it helped give us our full 2 mile warm-up.
We caught back up with everyone else during strides and then it was time for the workout. Advanced was 20 minutes at LT pace. My LT pace is supposed to be 9:39 and Kelly and I had talked on the way back and she was going to try to run a 10:00 or 9:50 pace. I told her I thought I would just run with her becasue I didn't know if I could run any faster. When we started out it was Kelly, Arland Bailey and myself. We did stay together for a little bit but without realizing it we were starting to pull ahead. I had my Garmin set on the screen that showed avg pace and the time, we were consistently running a 9:14 avg pace, and at first that felt pretty good. Dennis ran by and complimented my form and I was just generally feeling great... and then we hit the wind and it was like a knife it literally sucked the breath right out of me. We were running in a figure 8 so we weren't always in the wind but when we were it was really hard, both mentally and physically. Bailey was great she kept gently encouraging me, she didn't push at all and if I slowed a bit so did she. Around the 12 minute range I really was starting to feel drained and I felt like I was slowing down, I told myself you are running way faster than your LT pace you can slow down if you want to. It just seemed so hard and I just knew I had really slowed down and there was going to be a big difference between the first 1/2 and the second 1/2 of the run. I really don't like looking at my Garmin a lot when I'm running so I would just glance at it every now and then, so I was really suprised when we got to 17 minutes and we were at a 9:12 avg pace. I knew I only had three minutes left and surely I could keep up the pace for that long. In the end we ended up with a 9:09 avg pace!! woo hoo. I was pretty happy!! I was almost nervous to tell Arland and Dennis what we had done. Dennis is very adamant about we need to run our prescribed pace's, but he wasn't upset he said I looked good while running and that I need to "recalibrate" we are going to do another timed mile in March.
I was riding pretty high after that, When we hit 20 I gave Bailey a big hug I was so happy!!
We walked back to the meeting spot, did our strides talked to Dennis and then ran back to the school... well first I had to go back and get my jacket and then someone mentioned a head band left behind, luckily the wind hit me and I remembered I had taken one of mine off..I had started off with 3 of them!! Dennis ran back and got it for me and we were finally on our way. I tried to put my jacket on and couldn't so then I was trying to tie it around my waist and was having a lot of problems, the wind was whipping it around and we were running so it was akward. I finally got it done and then realized that I had lost my headband so Bailey and I turned around, I thought it wouldn't be very far but it was almost all the way back to the stop sign. Oh well we all ways like to add on so it worked out great.. would have been even better if my Garmin had been on!!
The run back to the school was pretty brutal, the wind had really picked up and it was really, really cold in the upper 20's.
It was too cold to hang around chatting so pretty much everyone jumped in their cars and were off!!
It was an awesome workout out and I was feeling great!! I just hated that Cheryl had to go home early. She did the right thing, right now she needs to worry more about healing and less about mileage!!

Spinning - Body Sculpting And A Free Pass

Usually Brenda and I don't talk about our weekeday runs unless something comes up and we aren't going to make it, otherwise we just take it for granted that we will be there.
Yesterday afternoon after several of our running partners started dropping out for the Monday night run Brenda asked me if I just wanted to take a rest day, she said she didn't mind running on the dreadmill.
I had a free pass I could skip the run and just snuggle up on my warm couch... woo hoo!!!!!

It was tempting but I didn't even let myself think about it, I immediately responded that I wanted to run. Since Michele wasn't going to be running and I knew she was having company over I asked Brenda if she minded just coming to my house. She thought it was a good plan so we decided to meet about 5:30, she was getting off work early and we wanted to get an early start so we could run in daylight as long as possible.
Heather had been contemplating just going to the gym and running on the treadmill but I think Brenda and I had convinced her to run with us...she doesn't like the cold and wind but she decided to tough it out and run outside.

Of course the one day that Brenda gets to leave work early is the day that I had a hard time leaving on time. I really could have stayed another 30 minutes. Once I get the hang of the new accounting system at work I will be fine but right now I feel like am constantly running behind.

Brenda was actually a little early and I had just gotten home so she hung out in my messy house while I got dressed. Soon after that Heather joined us and we headed out. I have to say I had forgotten how nice it is to just run from your own house!!

We usually run 6 miles on Monday but Brenda and I had already decided that 4 would be plenty. We both had back to back long runs over the weekend and we have a pretty intense workout planned for our Tuesday Night Flyer's clinic.
We both said in several e-mail, it will just be a easy fun run!!! Yeah well you know what they say about good intentions! LOL
It did start off at a pretty comfortable pace, of course the first couple of miles are always the hardest for me so I kind of felt like I was struggling off and on the whole run. We ran North on 1st street to Fred's and then turned around, on the way back we added on by running through a couple of neighborhoods. A couple of times I told the girls they were killing me... but they just laughed at me!!! Although this route doesn't have as many inclines as Blooming Ridge/Krooked Kreek it isn't exactly flat and adding on the neighborhoods gave us two extra inclines. Actually even more I almost forgot that we ended up having to run my neighborhood twice and it has a good incline as well.
After the run we walked around the neighborhood to cool down, on the second loop we dropped Heather off. Brenda and I chatted for just a minute or two when we got back to my house and then said our good-bye's. When I looked at the clock I was pretty excited to see that it was just 6:30. It was so nice to get in a good run and be done so early!!
I walked in the house changed clothes and sat down for just a second when all of a sudden I thought I heard rain. Yep I walked outside and it was POURING down. I started laughing to myself and thought i have got to call Brenda. Turns out she was also calling me. LOL We both spoke at the same time.. IT is POURING!! How lucky were we????? It was perfect timing. If it had been our normal Monday night run we probably would have been caught in that rain about 1/2 way through and far away from Michele's house!!!
4 miles
39:15
9:48 avg pace
1-9:54
2-9:59
3-9:59
4-9:22
It wasn't easy but I was thrilled to be able to run under a 10:00 avg.. I really didn't think I had it in me.

I have started a new cross training schedule with Andrea. I am going to do a 1/2 spinning 1/2 body sculpting class on Monday and Thursday's during my lunch hour. I am going to drop the Wednesday 5am class I had been doing. I think this schedule is going to work out great. I enjoy spinning but I was really getting burned out on getting up at 4:15 am 4 days a week. I think the extra hours of sleep have really helped me with my endurance. I think a lot of times we get so caught up in our training that we forget how important rest is... we need it to repair all damage we are doing to our bodies with our intense schedules. It makes me wonder if maybe it wasn't the spinning that was affecting my Tuesday night runs but instead maybe it was the lact of sleep.
I am also doing strength training workouts on my own at home. I hadn't been very faithful at getting them done, but hopefully this will change now.
Between my workout at home on Sunday and my class with Andrea yesterday I am very sore... it hurts to even breathe!!

Are You Crazy And One Psycho

Those were the words that were spoken to me by just about everyone who I told that after running 20 miles on Saturday I turned around and ran 10 on Sunday. What is even better is that I agreed with each person. I do think I was a little crazy, but I felt good after the 20 and Arland needed a long run and I wanted to run with him. Plus it really isn't that crazy, because I know several runners who have been doing it for weeks. You know who you are.. Brenda, Cindy, Lisa etc. LOL
Luckily the route that was chosen didn't give me much choice it was either quit at 3.5 or go the whole distance.
The decision had been made on Saturday that a group was running at 1:30 instead of 7:00am. I orginally thought I might go ahead and run at 7:00am and just do 6 with Joan, but then Saturday evening I kind of felt myself crashing and decided I would probably be better off sleeping in. It was a good decision.
We had a pretty good turn out. It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny,breezy and about 55 degrees.
The Sunday Crew:
Brenda, Jackie, Rock, Robert,Kelly,Rick,Arland, Annette.
We ran the Candlestick route first Arland, Rick, Kelly and I were running together. It was nice to have Rick with us, he doesn't like getting up early in the morning especially when it's cold so he hasn't been to a lot of our group runs this winter. Rick is a super guy very easy to talk to and very funny. I have been trying to work on his wife to her her to come to the Women Can Run Clinic.
After we finished the candlestick route we headed up 321, Arland had started to fall back a little so I let Rick go and I turned back for Arland. Pretty much the whole time on 321 you have to single file it so not too much talking going on. Sometimes I would get lost in my head and then see that Arland had fallen back. He is still working on his endurance after being off for almost 2 months because of his stress fracture. It is really stressing him out that he lost endurance. I know though that once he gets it back he will be leaving me in his dust!!!!
From 321 we turned onto Dogwood and then Mt Tabor to 89 and back to the school. There are quite a few inclines and rolling hills, so it is a challenging route. And it wasn't made any easier by the speeding cars on Mt. Tabor!! I think it was run over the runners day because we had several cars that would head straight for us and then swerve at the last minute. Unfortunately on Mt. Tabor you don't really have anywhere to go!
The battery on my Garmin was dead so I don't have any stat's. I just know that we ran 10 miles and I am thrilled that I was able to do it without any problems. It wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either. I don't really know what pace I was running but when it was all said and done, according to Arland's Garmin we avg'd 10:44. Not too shabby for a 10-miler the day after a 20-miler.
Just call me crazy... or you could be like Heather and call me psycho!! LOL

Memories of Crackheads and Blinkie's

Cheryl and I in the Holiday Inn restroom on our 20 mile run

I remember the first time I went to a LR training group run with Cheryl. We met at Lake Willastein. When we first arrived there were quite a few people, but then as we got out of her truck you could just see a steady steam of headlights that seemed to last for miles. I remember gathering around the sign in sheets. I almost felt like I was at a race that I hadn't signed up for. Cheryl signed us in and I heard those immoratal words "Good Morning Crack Heads" for the very first time. Like Cheryl said I was hooked after that. I wonder if I could get Tom to call me every Saturday morning before a long run.

I do remember thinking I wonder what the people in those apartments are thinking... there are probably a hundred people gathered around a man standing on a car shouting something about crackheads. I think if it were me I might think about moving!!! I also remember when we gathered at the River Market and he said it.. there were a lot of homeless people in the area and I was a little embarassed.

Blinky lights....Almost everyone has blinky lights on at these runs, and I think it is the coolest thing when we first start running to see just a long stream of lights. It was also nice on occasion when you were feeling a bit lost or left behind to be able to see lights in the distance.

Last weekend when we were in Maumelle we had crossed over Maumelle blvd. and were running in the "country club of arkansas" when all of a sudden I thought I saw a big fire truck ahead of us... but no, it was just a big group of red blinkies. I don't think I told anyone about it at the time... they all think I am crazy enough as it is!!!

The courses: WOW some of them were really tough, but they in turn have made us tough. I will never forget the first time running up Kavanaugh with Michele and Cheryl, we just ran our little hearts out and never took a walk break. On the way down Michele had gotten ahead and every few minutes she would turn around and say "can you believe we ran up this" I guess we had blinders on because unti we ran down we didn't realize how long and far we had run up.

They definately designed the routes to include every hill imaginable to prepare us for the LR Marathon.

The cookies... I remember the first time I noticed they had cookies waiting for us at the end of the course. I think it was the first time we met at the River Market. Those are the best damn cookies I have ever, ever, ever had. And I have had a lot of cookies in my life!!!!

They are just a generic store bought cookie but I swear to you I have never tasted anything better. This week we had homemade cookies at the end, and Oreo's and while I really enjoyed the homemade chocolate chip cookies, I have to admit I was a little sad not to have the others.

The people... Another great thing about running with this group is the chance to meet other runners. Cheryl had met Misty on her first run and she introduced me to her on the next one. It never really worked out that we got to run together but she is always so friendly and bubbly when we see her. Yesterday we saw her a lot, she was running with a group of guys who do an interesting kind of run walk thing. We played leap frog quite a bit yesterday. If Cheryl hadn't had her challenges and I hadn't had to stop off to use the restroom a couple of times we probably wouldn't have seen them, I'm not glad that Cheryl had her problems but I am glad we got to interact with them yesterday.

Of course there were the really memorable people, the guy who kissed the side walk and Chery's favorite snotty nose. There is also the girl that Michele helped on the River Trail, I can't remember her name but she had never been on the River Trail before and she was feeling lost. Michele ran beside her and encouraged her and showed her the way for at least two miles. We have seen her a couple of times since then and we ran into her a lot yesterday... once again she came to a point where she was lost, poor thing Cheryl was sick so she had to rely on me for help. I am NOT the person you want giving directions!! Luckily Misty and her group came along before she could get too lost.
There was the really friendly guy who talked to Cheryl and I for a long time in the parking lot once about our matching outfits.

So many big and small moments that I will always remember that I would have never had if not for Cheryl and this group. We also might not have ever discovered "The Bread Co." in the River Market and that would truly be sad!! They make the best sugar free hazelnut latte in the world!!! We introduced Brenda to the Bread Co and she in turn introduced it to the Cruisers... we have had a lot of fun after run gatherings there.

Thank you Little Rock Training Group... Thank you Cheryl and everyone who joined us on these crazy outings!!!

Rock Stars

We did it... we did it... we did it. So happy to have that 20-miler finished!!!

There were tears... tears of pain and then tears of joy! There was also a lot of laughter. Funny I remember laughing but at the moment I can't remember what all we found so funny. Probably just our silly selves.

It was a huge group this morning at the State Capitol. I bet there were 200+ people. It was awesome to see so many blinkly lights!! The morning started off with me not feeling like I was able to take care of "business". When I got to Chery's house I tried again with just a little luck. As we were listening to the announcments before the run I got that feeling... oh no we hadn't even started running yet :( I was really worried!!

Luckily once we started running I felt ok, but about 1.5 miles into the run we passed by an Exxon station and decided to make our first pit stop. We had been running with a couple of ladies who usually run a nice easy slow pace and had decided to stick with them to help pace us. Unfortunately we lost them when we had to make the pit stop. We weren't the only ones so we had to wait in line, since it was all women we decided to take over the mens room too. I was in there trying to take care of business when I hear the ladies say there is someone in there and I hear a man's voice. Well hell, now I really can't do anything now that I know a man is waiting right outside the door!!! LOL

The first miles were really pretty great and I would say the first 5 or 6 just kind of flew by. Just before mile 6 I felt the need to go again, we were by the Holiday Inn off of Ferry street, so we decided to go in there... we just waltzed into the place like we were supposed to be there. It was nice to have a nice restroom to use. Thankfully that was the last time I felt the need to use the bathroom. We made one more stop at mile 15 but I probably would have been ok without it.

So after the last potty stop we were just running along. Seriously I can't even remember most of it. We ran by all the historic places, The Governer's Mansion, Central High School, President Clinton's Library, oh and of course we started at the State Capitol and ran by it one or two more times. Most of this run was on the Marathon route, so did Kavanaugh, and the Heights, and the last 1.5 miles we ran up Dillard's Hill.

The memorable part of the run came in the later miles. Cheryl's back started hurting her and that was making her nauseous. She would have to stop and wait for the nauseous to pass before she could go on.

At one point she found a fire hydrant and squatted down in front of it and used it to massage her back. It was really kind of funny and I'm so mad I didnt' get a picture!! The hydrant massage seemed to help, but not for very long. I really can't say enough how proud I am of Cheryl!! She really was very miserable the last 10 miles, maybe even longer, but she never quit.

A really nice lady made an announcement before the run started that she had cleaned her bathrooms and was opening her home to anyone who needed a pit stop around mile 15. Cheryl and I made a note of the address just in case. I think it was so awesome for Carol and her husband to welcome complete strangers into their home, to use the bathroom's no less!! My hat's off to them, and believe me Cheryl and I took full advantage.
It was soon afer this last stop that Cheryl almost reached her breaking point. The nauseous, foot pain etc were all starting to take their toll. She was trying to figure out if we just kept going down Kavanaugh and back to the Capitol if, we could still get 20 miles. Looking at the directions for the rest of the run just seemed so overwhelming. We did end up following the rest of the training course, and I'm really glad we did, maybe we could have still gotten 20, but we would have missed Dillard's hill... and who would want to miss that???

Michele called at about mile 19 to check on us... her voice and encouragment helped get us through that last mile. She had perfect timing!!

When we turned onto Cross street I kept telling Cheryl she was a rock star.. and she would say "no you are" we kept that up for a minue or so and then we agreed that we were BOTH rock stars!!

The Arkansas State Capitol looks like a minature White House and it was a beautiful sight this morning with the sun gleaming down on it. Oh yeah almost forgot, it started off pretty chilly this morning but it was in the 60's by the time we finsihed.

Huge thank you to the leaders of the Little Rock Training Group - Tom and Hobbit. They had a water stop and were also driving along the course checking on the runners and offering water or whatever, and they were there at the end cheering every one in. They are great people and I can only imagine the time and energy they put into these training runs. I for one really appreciate them!!

It was a great morning, we got to see the run rise over the Arkansas River, we enjoyed the sunshine and we ran 20 freakin miles!!! So yeah we are Rock Stars. When we got back to Cheryl's house we decided we were probably more like the Rolling Stones than Maroon 5... but hey that's ok!!!

After the run we met Brenda at Boulevard Bread which was great. I don't know it I would want to run 20 miles if I couldn't sit back and have a great cup of coffee while chatting with my friends!!
Cheryl and I had ordered 8 grain heart healthy toast... very yummy, but oh my goodness the raspberry jam we put on it was just fantastic!!! So yummy, I need to go back and buy a whole jar!

I am feeling pretty great considering I ran 20.3 miles this morning!! A far cry from some of my 20 milers last summer when we were training for Chicago.. I remember not being able to walk the rest of the day after some of them.

Cheryl... you rock and I am so happy and proud that I have been able to be a part of your Marathon training. I can't wait to see you cross the finish line on Marathon day!!!

It's hard out here for a Pimp

It's been a weird couple of days. Tuesday night our workout was cut short by severe weather. We ran most of it with lightening in the distance the whole time thinking and sometimes saying out loud are we crazy??? Well yes of course we are!!!
Cheryl, Kelly, Bailey and I were doing our workout together. We had just finished our 800 at LT pace, we caught up with the fast girls who were getting ready to start their 3rd or 4th 400 at interval pace, it was going to be our first, turns out it was our first and last. Well kind of. We were all gathered when a big flash of lightening and a big clap of thunder came booming down. We all screamed like little girls, but did we run screaming to Dennis's van to be driven back to our cars... NO... we decided we would go ahead and get that 400 out of the way. So we took off.. oh my gawd, my heart!! The adreneline from the thunder and lightening took it's toll, and then Bailey let out a yelp and stopped, I hesitated a moment and started to run back to her but she said to go on she was ok. I did that 400 in exactly 2:00... according to my chart it should have been 2:13 either way it took a lot of effort. It might have been faster if I had stopped for a second, but who knows. We walked for a few seconds and then started running again this time we were running to Dennis's van. I think it was Bailey who said we could use this as our second 400 and took off, but I didnt' really have it in me anymore. I did stop my garmin when we hit .25 and it was 2:21. That was without even trying.
I went to Tracy's house to ride out the storm and then Kylie went home with me to spend the night. It was just us girls, Arland was still out of town.
When he got home on Wednesday he asked if a tornado went through our house..yes it was a Kylie tornado!

Having an extra little person to get ready in the morning kind of threw off my whole schedule and I forgot/skipped breakfast. Don't worry Kylie got fed once we got to Team 1. She asked Horace to go get her breakfast. She has everyone wrapped around her little fingers!!
So anyway no breakfast, but I did have a Mountain Mudd coffee and that held me over until lunch. Arland texted me to wait for him to have lunch. By the time we got to Chili's it was almost 2:00 and I was starving so I made some poor choices and had chips and french fries, along with a few other things. Not only was I stuffed I was sleepy!! So when it came time to get ready to go run I was not prepared! I really just wanted to curl up on the sofa and watch t.v.

BUT being the dedicated runner I am I got dressed and made my way over to Michele's house to meet the girls. It was cold and windy all day so add that to my list of reasons why I wanted to stay home.
Even before I got out of my car I knew I was going to have stomach problems... oh did I tell you that in a stroke of brillance I took 2 immodium AD's?? yep sure did. In hindsight probably not the smartest thing to do.
I asked Michele to use her bathroom and I was able to get a little business out. I knew it wasn't over though.
We finally started running and hadn't gotten very far when I asked could we take the short cut to my little friend mr. port-a-pottie. Michele said it would probably be closer to go back to her house, but I said no better not I might just get in my car and go home. I made it to the port-a-pottie with no problem spent a little time in there but once again I knew it wasnt' over. We ran another mile or so and were headed back to the port a-pottie, good thing because too because just before we got there I could feel the need to use it arise. After the second visit I knew I wasnt' going to be running 8 miles. Not only was I constantly needing to poop, but I also had acid reflux, I kept burping and when I did I would feel the acid in my throat. Not pleasant!!! When we first started running my stomach felt like it was about 4 months pregnant , but the time I finsihed I felt about 10 months pregnant.
When we got back to Michele's neighborhod I had 4.25.... I couldn't stand it, I had to get in 5 so I ran the cul-da-sac a few times... and my great running buddies ran it with me :) Arland was also done and we walked a little bit and then headed home. I always hate it when I have to cut a run short but believe me I was THRILLED I was able to get in 5 miles last night.
The Wednesday night crew:
Arland
Brenda
Rock
Michele
Annette

Oh just in case you were wondering about the title of this post.... it came from Kylie. We were talking on the phone, I don't even know what we had been talking about but we were about to say good-bye when she said that to me. I was thinking about my crazy week and it popped into my head and I thought it was the perfect title for this post..... not so perfect that it came out of the mouth of a 4.5 year old!

Heat Wave

The high yesterday was in the mid 70's!!!!! It was also very humid!!!

It was nice to get ready for the run and not have to put 10 pounds of clothes on. I wore a skirt and a sleeveless running shirt. I also put my hair into a ponytail for the first time in ages. Since I've had shorter hair I just leave it down when it is cold.. it helps keep my neck warm.

Kelly wasn't able to join us, she had to work late. Cheryl had considered coming to Cabot to run with us but she was able to get her run in earlier in the day.

When I got to Michele's house Jane was already there and Brenda was right behind me. It was so nice to be able to gather and chat before the run and not be freezing. The cold doesn't bother me so much when we are running, it's just the beginning that is hard!
Sara P also joined us... Michele's hubby was running late so we had to leave without her but I had my phone so she could call and we could come back for her, or meet her.
It was great to have Jane and Sara with us, I have really missed running with Jane. Our schedules just haven't meshed very often this winter.
We hadn't been gone too long when Michele called, we turned around to meet her, this of course meant we had to run up our least favorite hill twice last night. We have a lot of inclines through the whole run, but this one particular hill is the most challenging. While running it I always hate it but I know it is helping to make me stronger.
Jane and Sara only wanted 3 or so miles, Michele and I had turned to go our normal route but Brenda went back with the girls. Michele was anxious to make up the mileage she lost in the beginning it only added about .25 of a mile but we had already turned in that direction when we realized they were going the other way so we kept going.
Once we said good-bye to Jane and Sara we started our last couple of miles. It was funny because we were all at different mileages. I had the most, Brenda was about .25 behind me and Michele was right at a mile behind. No problem we just said we would go by Michele's garmin. I was actually glad, it meant that I would get in 7 miles and after having to cut my Sunday run short I was happy to add on a little bit.

Yes Cheryl we did complain about being hot!!! LOL It was perfect when we would have a breeze but there were long stretches when we had no breeze and it was HOT!!! We were all quite sweaty by the end.

When we finished the run we decided to walk to cool down. I couldn't even imagine getting in my car yet. Brenda joined us for the first lap around the cul d sac, but then Michele and I decided to keep walking. After another lap we stopped by her mailbox, and right at that moment my phone rang. It was Kelly she was just getting into Cabot. I had her garage door opener so I asked if she wanted to meet me at Michele's house which worked out good for her since she lives close by. Michele and I kept walking until Kelly arrived and then we convinced her to walk with us. I hope the walk helped Kelly's back.. she was walking kind of stooped over when she first got there but she seemed better by the end.
We ended up with 2.25 mile of walking and almost two solid hours of movement. We started just a little after 6:00 and when I got in my car to go home it was 8:05.
Robert Kelly's husband showed up just as we were finishing our walk, he had to "ref" some basketball games but still needed to get his run in. Michele didn't get enough with the run and walk so she joined him. She said she was only going for a couple of miles, but I bet she did the whole 5 miles with him. I'll call her later to find out.

Tonight is supposed to be our running clinic but the weather men are saying we are going to have severe weather this afternoon, so we shall see.

7.0 miles
1:11:50
10:15 avg pace

1-10:21
2-10:33
3-10:17
4-10:04
5-10:20
6-10:09
7-9:59

173.25

My monthly running total for January was 173.25.
Not too bad... who am I kidding I thought it was fantastic!!! Even while training for Chicago I never had a month that high in mileage.
The Monday and Wednesday night longer runs has made a big difference in getting the higher mileage. Also the fact that we have had longer warm up and cool downs during our Tuesday night clinic, and I have also tried to make my Sunday runs longer as well.
I would like to see February's total at 180.

Today's run didn't help much to add to Feb's totals. Yesterday while running I was experiencing some glute pain on the left side. It hurt but not enough to make the run unbearable.
I think the fact that we didn't stretch at all didn't help and by yesterday evening I was in quite a bit of pain. The pain has kind of radiated from my glute to my hip. I took some advil before bed and then applied "Sore no More" to the sore areas. When I woke up this morning it felt better, but not good. I got dressed for the run anyway telling myself to at least try to run 3.

On the way to the school I was thinking maybe we will run the Candlewood course so I can made the decision to stop if I need to. Unfortunately Cindy was also experiencing some pain and had requested the same thing.
It was Cindy, Brenda, Jackie,Bailey, Joan and myself running this morning. We started off all together but that didn't last too long. I really wanted to take it easy this morning and we let Brenda, Jackie and Cindy go. Bailey is also recovering from an injury so she needed a slow easy run as well.
Bailey, Joan and I ran Candlewood loop together, I could feel my hip getting tighter and tighter so I told them I would have to stop after the first loop. Bailey was also feeling some pain so she decided to stop as well. I hated that Joan was going to have to run by herself :(
I suggested to Bailey that we walk a little bit to help stretch and cool down... well that walk ended up being over 1.5 miles. We basically just followed Joan, although much slower. At one point on Panther Trail we could see her repeatedly bending over... Bailey and I both said at the same time she must have found a lot of pennies!
I really enjoyed running with Joan and Bailey and I also enjoyed the walk. I got to learn a little bit more about Bailey, which was fair turn about since she learned a lot about me on Saturday when we went to Daily Grind for coffee! LOL

Arland left this morning for New Mexico so I've had a low key day by myself. Most of it anyway, I did get to go to the movies with Kelly and Bailey this afternoon and that was fun. I am so glad we made those plans because it really helped!!
We saw "27 Dresses" and we all liked it.. it was cute.

Oh I have to give a huge shout out to Brenda... you ROCK!! She ran 21 miles yesterday and then turned around and ran 10 this morning! I want to be like her when I grow up! LOL

Maumelle 18.8

Our Maumelle adventure began bright or should I say dark and early on Saturday morning. I met Kelly and Michele at Team 1 and then we were on our way to Sherwood to pick up Cheryl.
From the very beginning the trip was an adventure, we were taking the "back way". It was dark I'm not used to these roads, Cheryl was in the back seat and we missed a turn because she didn't tell me to turn until I was just past it, of course she might argue differently! LOL
We made it to Maumelle right on time, Tom was already speaking when we got there so I didn't get to hear the customary "good morning crack heads". That is the whole reason I went.. no not really but for some reason I love it!

Starting off we crossed Maumelle blvd. into the "Country Club of Arkansas" a very nice neighborhood with large new houses. During the first bit I was talking to a lady that said we would come to Mc Donald's about 4 miles in. I thought to myself surely I can make it 4 miles, which we all know is not always the case.

Kelly and Michele broke away for a little while, Cheryl and I kept a nice easy pace, we had a long way to go. The training group was running a 14 mile course. Cheryl and I had discussed earlier in the week we needed to do at least 16. I was schemeing to make it 18, I spoke to both Michele and Kelly about it. Of course I was worried I might be the one who wouldn't make it!
I had also mentioned it to Cheryl and she said "we'll see".
As we were running through this neighborhood I could see up ahead a port a pottie right on the side walk in front of a house under construction. At the time I only thought I needed to pee, Kelly also needed to go. When we approached it a girl had just come out and was waiting for her friend. I mentioned that before I started running I would have NEVER thought of using a construction site port a pottie, of course we all know now that they are my best friends!!
When it was my turn I was able to take care of quite a bit of business that I didn't know needed taking care of. Oh I almost forgot Cheryl had given me one of her anti-poop pills when we were on the way to the meeting place. So my first thought was boy I'm glad I got that out of my system, my second was maybe those pills don't work.

When we got to the turn around point we decided to keep going, so we went as far as we could before turning around. I think we were able to add on almost a mile.
On the way back out we passed by the friendly port a potty once again, on a run where I don't know when the next bathroom will appear I try to take advantage of the one in front of me. Again I didn't think I really needed it, but you know lets try. Once again I had a bit of business that was taken care of. It was such a relief to not have any emergencies. That port a potty is my second favorite one but as much as I admire and apreciated him, he doesnt' hold a candle to my port a buddy I mean potty in Cabot.

The rest of the run I never needed a bathroom again unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Kelly. She normally doesn't have any issues but her stomach was upset yesterday and she was having to make a lot of stops and was VERY uncomfortable inbetween stops.

We were just running along and other than poor Kelly's stomach things were going ok. Well kind of, we had reached one cross roads and the instructions were a little confusing. I never actually even looked at the directions so I can't say for sure, but about 8 or 9 miles into our run we thought we had missed a turn. We were on an endless up and down, up and down and it just looked like this road was leading to nowhere. About this time we caught up with an older gentleman who was standing looking as his directions saying he was lost. We told him we thought we might be lost too and he could stick with us if he wanted to. He seemed like a really nice man but he had a lot of yucky stuff on his mustache, I guess he couldn't feel it there, anyway I couldn't look at him because it made me want to throw up. I'm sorry nice man but yuck I just can't look at that stuff :(

Eventually we took a walk break and he went on without us, but we caught up with him when he had stopped a motorist to ask for directions. The friendly motorist didn't recognize the name of the street we were looking for but he did give the man directions on how to get back to civilization. We decided to go with the man... on one had this was a very good decision and on the other not so much. We had to climb a couple of steep hills, but then we were rewarded with a beautiful view and a nice long steady down hill at the end of which was civilization. We turned right and there was an EZmart... Kelly desperately needed a bathroom. Of course we all know my history with EZmart, so Kelly was a bit apprehensive and was looking for other alternatives. I told her we had to at least check, and sure enough right when you walk in the door was a sign that said "CLEAN PUBLIC RESTROOMS" relief!
While Kelly was in the bathroom we were trying to figure out where we were and where we had gone wrong. The cute young guy working there was very helpful. Of course he was also laughing at us. We told him we were lost and he said "you are in Maumelle, how can you be lost!" Funny, but then I explained we were off course. That we were trying to run 18 miles and we had missed a turn somewhere. We gave him our directions and they didn't seem to make much sense to him either, finally he remembered there was a map of Maumelle on the wall behind us. Cheryl and Michele spent a lot of time looking at it and realized that we had never been lost to begin with. We should have just kept going on the road we had been on.
Oh yea, great!! Um oh crap that means we have to run back up those stinking hills!!!
It really did turn out to be a good thing, Kelly got to use a clean bathroom, although it wouldn't flush. Luckily I thought about pouring water into the toilet bowl, and luckily there was a bucket in there that made it possible.
After we finished using the facitilies and thanked the guy for his help we headed back the way we came.

On the way back my phone started ringing, it was just the generic ring tone so I didn't answer it, well it kept on ringing so finally I had to answer. It was a customer who had a problem with his car that he had just picked up the day before. I'm talking to him and I'm running at the same time, finally I told him I'm sorry but I'm in the middle of an 18 mile run and I have not pen and paper to take down your number. I did have the # on caller ID and I called Arland gave him the information and asked him to please deal with it. At the end of the conversation with the customer we had a big hill in front of us, Michele asked if I needed to walk so I could make a phone call. I said NO I am going to run this F*&^% hill first!! My anger got me up that hill in no time!!

Once we got back to the spot where we had taken the detour we starting back in the direction we had been running. Wouldn't you know it, but one block away was our turn.... one block!!!
BUT it was a good thing we made that detour because it helped us get our 18 miles without having to add on anything at the end.

Poor Kelly she was still miserable, after a few turns we were back on Maumelle Blvd, but we didnt' see any gas stations or fast food restaurants. Across the hwy though were some business buildings, Kelly kept looking in that direction to see if she could figure out what they were. Finally she couldn't wait any longer and we ran across the hwy and through some trees and there was a Nursing Home/rehab place. Kelly went to the door rang the buzzer, waited for a few seconds nothing happened. Finally she saw a button to open the door automatically. While she was in there Michele and I kept running, Cheryl took a little break and then she ran with us. I think we added on close to .75 of a mile just doing that.

Each time Kelly would use the bathroom somewhere I would think maybe that did the trick, she would always feel ok for a little while.
We were finally getting close to our 18.. I think we were at 16 but it felt like we were never going to get back to our cars, Cheryl even called out at one point that she hadn't planned on doing 20 today!

Michele and I had run ahead, not really realizing it, but we had a nice downhill and the next thing you know we are way ahead, we finally made it to Club Manor rd. not too far now. I have just over 18 and Michele was almost at 19. I said let's turn around for the girls, well when we looked back they were no where in site. We had passed a big group of walkers and I thought did they get mixed up with them, but no I can see in the distance that Cheryl is crouched down leaning again a stop sign. OH CRAP something bad has happened. My heart was racing I just knew Cheryl had twisted her ankle or something, and then we realized we didnt' see Kelly.. OH NO... what is going on. Finally as we are getting closer to Cheryl we see Kelly coming. Her stomach was really, really bad. Michele and I were walking with them and after we all turned on Club Manor Cheryl mentioned that they had been hoping we were going to come back with the car. Sooo Michele and I decide we will run and get the car for Kelly and we did and in doing so we didn't stretch and we didn't get any cookies! BUT it was worth it to help Kelly.. but turns out she didn't need us, or I guess we werent' fast enough because we get on the road where we left them and there is no sign of them, so we turn into a little strip mall thinking maybe they went to find a bathroom... luckily Cheryl was sitting outside waiting. She wasn't feeling so great herself at that moment.
Thankfully they were both ok...Kelly was able to use the facilities and felt better for a little while. We made a quick trip to sonic to her her a diet coke and then we were on our way to the River Market to meet the Cruiser's for coffee and breakfast.
It was great that Cheryl was able to get over her 16 mile hump, and I was happy to also get in over 18, and not have any bathroom issues. I just felt really bad for Kelly because I know exactly what she was going through.

We have 20 next week and then I think Cheryl will be ready for her first Marathon. Kelly, Michele and I on the other hand still have plenty of long runs in our future as we prepare for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 26th.