Monday, December 22, 2008

Cruiser Christmas Party





Arland wrote about the party on his blog so I will just post a couple of pictures. Unfortunately I didn't take very many just a few of Kylie singing. There were so many people to talk to that I completely forgot about taking pictures. I do know that Jackie had her proffesional camera so hopefully she will send us a link to the party pictures soon and I will post some more on here.
But for now I have mostly Kylie with a small supporting cast.
Last year at the Cruiser Christmas Party Kylie would not leave my side for one moment... Friday night she wanted to sing multiple times in front of the whole crowd! Kindergarten has really been good for her!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Exhilirating

I had a great run this morning with the girls out at Lake Pickthorn. I knew it was going to be cold this morning and there were times during the night and when I first got up this morning that I was doubting our sanity for running this morning but wow it turned out great!!!!
It was 24 degrees with a windchill of about 19 when we headed out to run this morning. Jane and I met Brenda and Cindy at McDonald's and then we all piled into Brenda's car and she drove us out to lake pickthorn.
I had on two pair of tights and two long sleeve tech shirts. I also wore my new wind vest I got at the Spa 10K, it is big but it was perfect this morning. Hmmm let's see I also had a neck gaitor and two head/ear bands oh and of course gloves.

The trail/path around the lake is dirt for about a mile and then a little over a mile and a half of gravel and grass. I really liked the packed dirt a lot it felt good to run on a softer surface, I didn't love the gravel/rock as well but it was still softer and it was a nice change. The four of us started out together but it didn't take long for Cindy and Brenda to get ahead of us. The wind was pretty fierce when we first started out and thank goodness for all the head bands I had on because I was able to cover half of my face which made it easier to deal with the wind. Whenever the gaitor would fall down the cold air would sting the inside of my nose! LOL The path is about 2.5 miles out and then turn around and come back. When we met up with Cindy and Brenda they told us they touched the gate so of course we did the same thing. On the way back I actually started getting really warm, the sun was in our eyes and I guess the wind was at our backs not that it felt any easier to run!! but I had to take off my gloves and one of my head bands. I was really glad I wore the vest because it has pockets so I was able to stash everything because once we got back onto the packed dirt and curved around we were right back in the wind and it was HOWLING so I needed to put everything back on. Jane and I just kept laughing because it was getting harder to run it felt like we were being pushed around a bit and the cold was just stinging our faces. Luckily we only had about .75 of a mile of that and then we rounded one more curve and we were back at the car. Brenda said if we ran around the parking lot we would get 5.5... I originally didn't care but once she said it I realized I wanted that even number!

It was such a beautiful morning.. the sun was shining bright, the wind was causing the lake water to crash against the shore so we had the sound of the water while running but as always the best part was the company. Jane and I chatted the whole time and we always had Brenda and Cindy just up ahead.
Brenda will get a kick out of this... Like I said the whole run we had Brenda and Cindy in our sight that is until the last bit and we went around a turn ... well when we got back to the road I couldn't tell which way we should go and I had a split moment of panic!!!! Luckily once I looked to the right I could see the parking lot but I'm serious for a second there I thought Jane and I were going to get lost!!!! LOL

During the run Jane and I were talking about how great it was to be out enjoying the beautiful morning and how most people would think we were idiots or crazy to be running in 20 degree temps... but I said we are going to have the biggest runners high when we get done with this run and I was right!! We were all so happy and chatty the whole way back to MC Donald's!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A fun run with the girl's

I have to say I was pretty sore after the Marathon and had decided to take the week off. Monday and Tuesday I don't think I could have run even if I wanted to, Wednesday was a little better but still had no desire to run. By Thursday I was itching to run.. just something short and easy so after a few e-mails and text messages I had arranged to meet Brenda, Jane, Michele and Karen for a run. It was pretty cold and windy all day Thursday but I kept reminding myself that it had actually been colder during the Marathon. It was probably about 6:15 when we finally got started, one of the great things about our little group is there is no pressure to start exactly on time.
I was so happy to be running and nothing was hurting. We were running a nice easy pace and we were having a great time!! We chatted and laughed a LOT... it just felt so great to all be together again. The week before the marathon I ran one night with Michele and Kelly but had not run with Jane and Brenda since the weekend before the marathon... and of course we all ran the marathon alone so we were all a little giddy being together again. I think all of the Christmas lights also helped contribute to the festive feeling.
We were just planning on 3 miles but with Michele in the lead we ended up running 4 instead. I was really pleasantly suprised when I looked down at my Garmin at the end to see that we had a 10:15 avg. pace.. I know that's not fast but it really felt like a very easy pace so I was expecting it to be closer to 11:00.
I had the biggest smile the whole time we were running and I don't think it went away until I fell asleep that night!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Correction

Jane finished in 4:44!! I fixed it now but on the previous post I accidently wrote that she finished in 5:44.. sorry Jane! Thanks Arland for noticing!

Memphis Race Report Continued....

Where did I leave off.... Oh yeah the Krispy Kreme donuts! Yes they were delicious and Kelly and I both got three of them. We headed back to the group and when Michele saw all my donuts she took one of them away and threw it in the trash!! She said you only want those donuts because you are upset about your time... which probably wasn't entirely wrong but seriously those were some good donuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so proud of all my girls... despite the freezing temp's we all had Marathon PR's. Michele finished in 4:38 and would have finished in under 4:30 if not for a long port a potty break. Jane finished in 4:44 and looked great coming across the finish line or so I heard since I wasn't there! LOL
Kelly finished in 5:03 and I finished in 4:57. I think I already mentioned that Bailey finished in 4:33 and she also had a port a potty break. So weird that both Michele and Bailey who have iron stomach's and NEVER have to use the bathroom while running both had to stop and me who ALWAYS has to use the bathroom while running didn't.
Josh, Brenda and Andrea also had very impressive finishes!!! Josh in his first marathon finished in 3:01 and qualified for Boston.
Brenda trained so hard for this race but it wasn't meant to be her day. I think everyone thought she was going to be so devestated when she didn't meet her goal but she knew by mile 19 it wasnt' going to happen and was ok with it. Actually she said she was relieved because then she was able to settle into a more comfortable pace. I think the extreme cold and the constant inclines are what took her BQ away on Saturday but it doesnt' matter becasue she is fine and learned many lessons and she is such a strong runner..The BQ will be hers sooner than later I would guess... maybe next October possibly in California???? :)
This was also Andrea's first Marathon and she too didn't finish in her goal time but geez I think a 4:17 is amazing for a first marathon!!

I thought we were all going to go back to the Hotel and then find a Mexican place to eat lunch but the plan was actually we were going to the restaurant now! I am so glad I did the bag check thing otherwise I would have frozeen to death on the way to the restaurant. It was only a couple of blocks away but we were all moving pretty slow. My cramps had calmed down but now my legs were just plain sore!!
I don't even know how many people went to the restaurant with us but it was a huge group.. on the way I was walking with Vicki when I realized I didn't have any money!! Vic put her arm around me and said "I'll take care of you" I know I say it all the time but seriously... how lucky am I!!!!!!!!
Arland, Jane, Blake and Dillon eventually made it to the restaurant and I finally got to give Jane a big hug!! She has been such a great training partner and friend.

After lunch Brenda, Vicki and her group were all heading back to Cabot. Kelly, Robert, Jane and the boys were also heading back to Cabot but needed to go back to the Hotel first. I was really starting to fade but when we got to the Hotel Kelly bought me a coffee from the gift shop and wow I sure wish I could drink coffee while running!!!! It definately perked me up!!
A little while after they all left I talked to Michele on the phone... she had gone back to her room and taken a warm bath. Normally I would never take a bath in a hotel bathtub but I was really starting to hurt again so I followed her advice and soaked for about 20 minutes and then took a nice long shower... wow I felt so much better afterwards!!!

After a lot of texting back and forth we all made plans for dinner and Beale street. Lisa & Bob were already on Beale street with their son and the rest of us took the Trolley to meet them. Phil & Jackie, Jame's & Michele, Arland and myself. When we first got on the Trolley which by the way those steps are about 10 feet high!! it was empty but pretty soon it filled up with a large group of rowdy runners.. they had all run the half marathon so they were feeling pretty spunky.
Bob & Lisa were at "Alfred's world famous --- ? something or other. I had a cheese burger and a bloody mary... best bloody mary I think I have ever had as a matter of fact it was so good I had a second one!

Once we were done with dinner we wandered up and down Beale street before we finally decided on BB King's Blue's club. I had spoken to Ken B. Debbie's husband while we were at the restaurant and before long they found us at BB Kings. Those two Ken and Debbie are so nice and so much fun!!!! BB King's was fun we had a couple more drinks.. I slow danced with James and then several of us got up for a few up tempo songs. It felt good to dance kind of helped work out some of the soreness.
One by one the other couples left us... Michele wasn't feeling herself... Jackie was getting tired etc. Ken, Debbie, Arland and I were the last one's standing. We headed over to Jillians to see if anyone was still there watching the fight but when we got there we realized the fight was long over and everyone was gone. Ken and Debbie had driven over and were parked right across from Jillian's and it was so nice not to have to walk back to the Hotel in the freezing cold.
We got back to the Hotel about midnight and I think I fell into bed and was fast asleep within seconds!! It was a long day!

Sunday morning we had breakfast with James & Michele and then headed home about 10:45... we got home around 12:45 , I helped unpack the car and then talked Brett into going to the grocery store with me, came home made Enchilada's and Mexican chicken... the family came over to have dinner with us. I think they left around 6:30 and I finally sat down and relaxed for the first time that day. Good thing I took that little nap on the way home.

I have to give a big shout out to our cheerleaders... Cindy C. Phil, Arland, Bob, James, Ken. It was so nice seeing you guys and knowing I was going to get to see you guys at the end helped me in those last 6 miles!!
Phil... wow you were awesome I saw you a couple of times and I apparently also missed you a couple of times. I know that took a lot of foot work to be in so many places!! Thank you!

I ran with my i-pod for the first time during a Marathon and while I loved having the music I know I missed a lot too.

Nutrition... I think I finally got it right, not just the before the marathon but during. I never really crashed and although I was really tired and sore at the end I didn't get "sick" like I have many other times.
I know the port a potty thing was more than luck... I prayed a lot too... but I don't know that I can say I will be having pumpkin pie and chocolate cake the night before every marathon!

I took a few days off from running... was planning a full week but by Thursday I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to run... I'll tell you about it in the next post, hopefully that won't be a week from now!

Memphis Marathon Race Report

Saturday morning I finally decided to wear my running pants, they are very comfortable and have big pockets that come in very handy when running in the cold. The pockets are great but not very flattering!!
I also had on my black tank with the pockets in the back and pretty much all my pockets were packed! I had a small baggie of pretzels, 1/2 a pbj sandwich, a small baggie with 5 honey stingers and 5 gels. I also had a ton of kleenex.
I wore my I run like a girl bondi band and my cheetah ear warmer around my neck. Jane also gave me a bandana to wear for the first few miles.
We had arranged the night before to meet in the lobby at 6:50am. There sure was a lot of complaining about the time but by the time everyone came down and we gathered for pictures and hugs it was probably 7:15 before we left if not later. We thought we might take the Trolley to the start but they were jam packed with runners so we decided to just walk... I think it was about a mile and luckily it was through downtown so all the buildings helped block some of the wind. Everyone was bundled up, I had on a throw away sweat shirt and my foil blanket from the Soaring Wings 1/2 marathon, Brenda had on her tradtional trash bag... I am sure we were all a pretty funny sight!
Jane had given me some hand warmers to stick in my gloves and wow those things are awesome!!! I am going to have to stock up.
We kind of got split up at the Bag check.. but Michele, Jane, Kelly, Gary and I all managed somehow to stay together. Next stop was the port - o - potty line... Don't let me choose which line to get into.. ever! I picked a line that unfortunately only had 2 port o potty's and it took a long time. Fortunately Michele Gary and I were all huddled up and kept each other warm. I moved one of my hand warmers to the little pocket in the back of my running pants and that really helped keep us warm! Gary decided to go behind the port o potty instead of in and I tried to encourage all the men in our line to do the same thing!
Finally it was my turn and I took my time and let everything have a chance to exit my body!! I knew the people outside were probably getting antsy and I was a little embasrassed to be in there for so long BUT I am very glad I just let things flow naturally!!
Finally I'm done we meet back up with Jane and Kelly give big hugs to Gary and head to our Corral. I think we ended up in Corral 10 or 11... kind of at the end of the 4:30 pace group. I found us an empty spot and we huddled up. There was a lady standing there all by herself shivering away so of course we surrounded her and gathered her into our warm little group. We did ask if she minded before we invaded her personal space, I just couldnt' let her stand there all by herself! Her name was Terri and this was going to be her first marathon so she was kind of nervous. We gave her a little advice.. I told her just not to go out too fast in the beginning which we all know I rarely follow my own advice!!
I was sad to part with her when we started running but she was following my advice and running her own pace.

It was awesome to start the race with my partners and friends but once we got settled in I decided to follow my own advice and tried to keep a comfortable pace. My plan was to try to maintain a 10:45 avg. pace for at least the first 20 and then either try to maintain that pace or even speed up a little the last six. Of course nothing goes as planned on Marathon day!! We did stay together for the first couple of miles or at least I kept them in sight for the first few... at one point I saw Michele turn around and look for me I gave her a smile and a wave, she smiled back and went on to run her own race. This had been our plan all along, we would start together but after that we were on our own.
Beale Street is always a highlight of the race this is where the biggest fan support is. You have to run up a steep incline to get there so your heart is really pumping and then you hear all the screaming and the music and it is just really cool! Arland had sent me a text before the race started that the support crew would be somewhere between 3.5 and 4 miles so I was keeping my eyes peeled for them.
My hip flexor/inner thigh area really started hurting before I even made it to 4 miles.. I was very upset but i'm used to pain in those areas so I knew I could run through it.. I also thought maybe it would go away after I warmed up but no it stayed with me for the whole race.
I saw Arland and the gang... Bob, Phil, Cindy, Ken and James just before the 4 mile mark and I was so excited I started yelling at them and I ran by and got some high fives :) The best part was Arland's face when he saw me :)

After the excitment of Beale street and seeing the gang things quieted down I was feeling really good other than the pain in my hip flexor/thigh. I decided now would be a good time to turn on the i-pod and the music really did help.
I had brought along an 8oz bottle of water to carry for the first couple of miles so that I could skip the aid stations. Normally I cannot stand to have anything in my hands but the water bottle really came in handy and I was able to pass every aid station until about mile 15. I started my fist Acel-gel at mile 4.5 and it took about a mile to finish it. I also had maybe 2 pretzels. I lost my pbj sandwich sometime in the first couple of miles, I knew I felt like something had fallen out of one of my pockets but I didnt' realize what it was until later on.
I caught up with Kelly around mile 5 .. well she was just ahead of me and she turned around to check on me. She asked if I was eating and drinking. We would kind of leap frog each other most of the race until about mile 17 or 18.
I took a couple of ibuprofren sometime after my first gel the pain wasn't getting any better but it also wasn't getting any worse it had kind of settled into a dull ache.
I had on a 4:45 pace band that I had gotten in Nashville and around the 10K point I checked it and was really excited to see that I was way ahead of pace.
It was fun to run past the aid stations and not need to stop even better was running past the port o potties and not needing to stop!! The last couple of Marathon's I have had to stop within the first 2 miles but I am so happy to say that I did not have to stop at at port a potty the whole race for the first time ever!!

Just before the 1/2 turn off I felt somebody in my personal space and I turned to see Bailey ... what.. how in the world was she behind me??? Silly girl in Typical Bailey style she had started farther back and was lolly gagging for the first 1/2 of the marathon but you know what even with the lolly gagging she still finished in 4:33 and was hopping the orange cones around mile 24. It was a big boost to see her, especially at this point in the race. I knew the 1/2 marathon split was going to be a challenge for me mentally because the past two years when we would turn off for the 1/2 marathon finish I would think THANK HEAVENS I AM NOT RUNNING THE FULL!! I did have a few moments where I was wishing I could turn too especially thinking of all the people I knew who were running the 1/2 and were either already done or would be soon. BUT I did not let myself dwell on it and instead of thinking geez I still have over 2 hours left of running I thought wow I love running and how lucky am I that I get to keep doing what i love for a few more hours. This frame of mind worked until about mile 21! LOL

When I crossed over the1/2 way mat I had not had to stop once.. no bathroom breaks, no aid station breaks no walking breaks for any reason.. I had been running the whole time and I was thrilled, I think before this race the longest I had run without taking a walk break was 10 miles. Now not only did I have a time goal which i was ahead of by about 3 minutes at the 1/2 but I had a new goal to see how far I could run without taking a walk break.

I can't remember exactly what mile we were at but at one point Kelly and I had met up again and when she asked how I was doing I told her about the hip pain and she asked if I wanted some tylenol.. I had already taken some ibuprofen but I was still hurting so I decided to take it... she also asked me about my pb&J sandwich and i told her I had lost it so she offered to give me one of hers.

The miles were becoming a blur.. the hills and inclines were really starting to wear me down but I was determined not to walk. My water bottle was starting to get a low so I started taking water from the aid stations... The first time the water went up my nose but I did manage to swallow a little bit of it... the second time I got it all over my shirt but once again did manage to drink a little bit. Finally by the third time I was able to get a good drink without any mishaps. I still had my bottle ... it had become my security blanket and I didn't want to get rid of it but by about mile 17 it was empty and I finally threw it away.
I took my second gu around mile 11 this one was a Roctane orange vanilla gu and it was GROSS!!! I could only stomach about 1/4 of it and threw the rest away... unfortunaely while trying to fish it out of my pocket I had lost one of my accel-gel's.

Mile 14 they were giving out gu's...one girl tried to give me one but it was espresso so I said no thanks.. next up a guy said he had strawberry so I took it.. I didn't really need it yet so I was just going to put it in my pocket for later/backup. I shoved it in my pocket and felt something sticky... yep they had opened it which was really nice but i wish I had known. I fished it out of my pocket and went ahead and ate it and it wasn't bad much better than the Roctane orange vanilla!!

Mile's 17 and 18 were hard it was uphill and I was really starting to get a little tired... I almost took a walk break up one of the hills at mile 17 but I just couldn't do it... I had made 20 miles with no walking my goal.
Earlier Kelly had given me one of her 1/4 pbj sandwiches..she said she wanted to give it to me then because she didn't think she could catch up with me again... Ha!! It was me catching up with her!! She would get ahead of me and then at the aid stations she would walk and I would get ahead of her and then she would catch up... we kept this up until mile 18. Kelly asked if I had eaten my sandwich yet and I said no mile 20 about a minute later she took a walk break and I never did see her again until after the race.
Just before mile 20 we were approaching a large intersection and i could see the policeman was letting cars through but I really thought he would stop them as I/we got closer but no he let a car pull out in front of me and I had to put on the breaks so I wouldn't hit the car. I didn't come to a complete stop but I guess I went up on my toes or something because all of a sudden my calves seized up and the pain made me shout out something not very nice.. I heard the policeman yell back but i'm not sure if he was yelling at me or the car. Regardless the damage was done I was in intense pain BUT I kept on running. I had to make it to mile 20!! Finally just past mile 20 my claves were cramping and now something crazy was going on in my knee. I could almost deal with the calf pain but this knee thing was freaking me out so I took a walk break. My knee was spasming but after a minute or so of walking it calmed down and I started running again... and then my knee and calves started throbbing again so the next 6 miles were a mix of walking and running. I was so dissapointed but I knew if I didnt' give up completely I could still come in under 5:00 hours which was my primary goal for the race. 4:45 was more of a pie in the sky kind of goal... but i was so close!

All through the course there were so many signs with pictures of children who were or had been patients at St. Jude. For miles I had been following the Run for Jake signs... they had pictures of a smiling happy little blonde boy. Many times I would think I hope you are doing well Jake and in those last miles when I was really hurting I thought of Jake and Elijah Talley and all the other kids and how much pain they have to endure every day of their little lives.... I'm not sure exactly what mile I saw the sign but maybe 22 or 23 there was a big yellow sign that said "SMILE Jake always did" and I LOST it.. I started crying I was just devestated to know that this little boy who I had been following for over 20 miles had not made it.

Just before mile 24 I called Arland to let him know where I was and that I was really struggling... he told me to take some endurolytes and keep drinking water.

It was getting harder and harder the running sections were getting shorter... finally I was almost at mile 25 I was running and had just thanked a policeman when I heard my name.. I looked behind me and there was Jackie, she was a glowing vision in pink. She ran up to me and asked how I was feeling I told her about the cramping and she said ok we are going to to a "1 and 1" run 1 minute walk 1 minute. I was so happy and honored that she was going to stay with me and help me. She talked to me the whole rest of the way, constantly telling me how awesome I was and reminding me that yes this was hard but that's why we do it!! Just before the 26 mile mark we are running along and I see people running up this steep incline and I said oh no do we have to run up that thing... Yes we did. It is really cruel to put such a steep incline/hill that close to the end... but we ran up it, Jackie asked if I wanted to walk but I said no I just want this over!! LOL

In the past once you entered Auto Zone stadium the 1/2 and full marathoner's split off and the marathoner's had to run almost 3/4 around the track while the 1/2 was maybe 1/4. As we were approaching the stadium I was really just done and all I could think of was I still had to make it around that track.... so as we were running through the parking lot I had fallen a little behind Jackie when she turned her head to me and saw I was behind her she kind of turned sideways and held her hand out to me and said "come on Annette.. you can do this" I will never ever forget that... I was hurting but there she was holding out hope! Finally we turned into the stadium and there was the finish line just ahead, they had changed the course and we all had the same finish line.
I knew that Arland and the Cruisers would be somewhere at the finish and sure enough I heard my name and looked over and could see Arland and friends cheering me on. What a great finish... Jackie with me and my family cheering me on!!!
Jackie had been telling me we were going to make it under five hours and sure enough I could see the clock and it was going to be udner 5.. I wasn't sure exactly becasue I didn't know exactly how long it took us to cross the start line.. I knew it was at least 14 minutes.

Jackie gave me the biggest hug at the finish and then we went through the process of getting our medal, chips cut off... which by the way I could barely lift my let up onto that milk crate!!!

Arland gave me a big hug when I finally made it up the stairs but he had to leave so I went on to find the gang and some food.

I was really pretty emotional and kind of cranky by this point so when I got to the food. There were two men taking the food stubs from our bibs... the first man took mine and I was walking towards the soup when the second man said where is your ticket.. I said that guy took it and he said you can't go through twice..oh that was IT!!!! I said in a kind of raised voice I JUST GAVE IT TO HIM!!! I swear the second man didn't believe me but he finally let me go. The soup didn't look very appealing they only had one kind and so I passed. Next stop Krispy Kreme doughnuts... Normally I don't really care that much for Krispy Kreme but at that moment I was in heaven.. I dont' think anything has ever tasted that good!!!!

OK... speaking of food it is lunch time and Arland has been asking me for 30 minutes when we were going to eat... I will finish this later. I hope! ;)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

St.Jude/Memphis Pre Race

Friday morning we met a large group of Cruiser's at Brenda's house for the trip to Memphis. Bailey hoped in the car with us and off we were with Joan in the lead while Brenda and Arland tried to keep up. We made one pit stop in Brinkley and thank goodness I know I woudln't have made it all the way to Memphis.

The Hotel we stayed in was across the street from the Expo and with the cold and wind we decided to go through the Hotel instead of around it. This turned out to be a very good thing since we were actually able to check into our rooms early. After checking in we went back out to the cars got our luggage and then we all headed to the Expo. The Memphis expo is pretty small but well organized and we were able to pick up our packets pretty quickly. I really wasn't much in the mood for shopping but I did get myself a new long sleeve running shirt and one for Kylie from the "I run like a girl" booth. I was in such a non shopping mood that I didn't even buy any Bondi Bands.. heck I barely even stopped by for more than a few seconds.

It seemed like everytime I turned a corner I was running into someone I know... we had a huge Cabot Cruiser turnout in Memphis and it was just so cool to have so many familiar faces around.
After the Expo we went back to the room and relaxed for a little while before dinner... I think I might have taken a 15 minute cat nap.
As a group we had decided to just stay at the Hotel Restaurant for a Pasta buffet. It turned out to be really good and we pretty much took over the front portion of the restaurant. I had a little penne pasta with red sauce and a little farfalle pasta with a white sauce... I also had a baked potato which was really good!! They also had some desserts so I had a small slice of pumpkin pie. It was fun to sit with Rick and Russ and hear them make plans for their race they were both running the 1/2.

Rock was running the 1/2 marathon and had driven up from Georgia with her mom... I have missed her so much and it was so good to see her and meet her mom. Her mom was just so NICE!!!!! and I bet she is a lot of fun to hang out with... maybe another time!

We had finished dinner and were headed back to the Expo when James and Michele finally made it to the Hotel so Arland and I turned around and went back to the restaurant.to hang out with them while they had dinner.

Tammy and Don were celebrating their 25th anniversry on Saturday and had invited everyone to have cake and water Friday night. Believe it or not I had a piece of cake... It was delicious but i was thinking what the heck and I doing to myself!!

Finally we were back in our room.... but no rest for the weary! I got everything ready for the next morning.. I laid out pants and skirt because I just couldnt' make up my mind what to wear. Kelly brought up some bread and we made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I made a couple for Michele... made one for my breakfast and one for the Marathon. Well not a whole sandwich a "fold over". By the time I finished getting everything ready it was almost 10:00 and I was a little freaked out about how late it was!!
I placed one of my PB&J foldovers on the nightstand by my side of the bed and asked Arland to set the alarm for 4:50......

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Memphis - Maratnon # 5 Under 5

Just a quickie.....

I finished in 4:57-58 not sure what the offical time will be..I forgot to turn my Garmin off at the finish.

I had a big PR 17 or 18 minutes but I was still dissapointed for a little while at the end. I am over it now because seriously a 17 min. PR is pretty awesome. I also had another PR...I ran without taking one step walking for 20 miles!!! I also learned how to drink from a cup while still running.

I will post the whole report soon....lot's to tell. I will leave you with this teaser the traffic control or lack thereof is the reason I had to walk at 20 and then it all fell apart after that until about mile 25.5 when an angel in pink found me and helped pull me in.

Thank you everyone for your texts, comments etc... you were all with me during the race!!

Good Luck to Aron from Runners Rambles who is running the CIM Marathon tomorrow.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Preparing for Memphis

Tuesday activities:
Kid's Running Club
Massage
Dinner with/for Dennis

My massage was great! Christy really was able to get in there and work out a lot of knots and all though it was painful at the time I have felt great ever since... well except for the fact that most of yesterday I felt like I had done 100 squats on Tuesday! BUT everything feels great today and I feel much better going into the marathon knowing she worked out all those knot's and tension. When she started working on my glutes and hamstrings she started talking to me about Ghost Whisperer and Grey's Anatomy to help distract me from the pain. We usually don't talk during the massage so I knew what she was doing... but it did help!
Jane was waiting in the lobby for her appointment and she saw me come limping out.. I told her I have either worn her out or just gotten her warmed up for you!! LOL

I had to run home so I could prepare my veggies to take to Andrea's house for Dinner. We were having a "thank you" dinner for Coach Dennis. I haven't been going to the clinic much since about August but he has worked really hard with Andrea, Brenda and Josh to help them prepare for their marathon goals. I love Dennis so I wanted to be a part of it even though I haven't been a faithful clinic participant lately. We gave him a really nice Nike Live Strong pull over with Coach on the front and The Flyer's on the back. He really did seem to like it and I can't wait to see him wear it.

Wednesday was a stressful day, I got so upset at work that I was shaking for almost two hours and on the verge of tears almost that whole time.. All I could think was this cannot be good for my body and I really don't need this 2 days before my Marathon!! Arland took me to lunch and by the time I got back to work I was calmed down but today I have decided is a no stress day!!! I knew that hormones were also playing a role, I knew I must be PMSing but I was praying that mother nature would hold off until late on Saturday or Sunday...BUT NO she decided to grace me with her presence today. SO of course that means I am going to be on my period during the marathon and I am bummed but I'm trying not to freak out about it too much. I've been on my period during 20 milers and I think maybe I was for the San Francisco Marathon. The thing that really bugs me is I had some pretty aggressive goals for this race and now I'm afraid I'm going to have to lower my expectations.

My Mantra for today and tomorrow is No Stress No Stress.. LIFE IS GOOD!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Running with Jupiter, Venus and Mr. Moon

It was a beautiful night the clouds finally blew away and we had a perfect view of the alignment of The Crescent Moon, Jupiter & Venus.
It was also FREEZING last night!! well ok maybe not freezing but cold enough that I had on two long sleeve tech shirts for our run. I also had a bondi band neck gaitor in addition to my head/ear band and gloves.

The run didn't start off so great!! I don't think I mentioned that after our run on Saturday my left knee was hurting a bit the rest of the day. I doubled up on my "triple flex" and fish oil since I hadn't taken any at all Thursday and Friday and thought maybe that was part of the problem but then the more I thought about it I came to the conclusion it might be my shoes. My Mizuno's have around 250 miles on them and I have read they don't usually last as long as some of the other brands... so anyway I decided it was the shoes and on my Sunday run I wore my Kenyano 13's and had no knee pain.
Ok back to last night I wore my Mizuno's... I thought it's just a short run 3 or 4 miles I'm sure they will be ok. Well as soon as we started running my left knee and right ankle both buckled and I came very close to falling down. It kind of scared me and we stopped and walked for a few seconds and when I started running again I was fine... just a strange fluke????
Abby was home so we decided to just run close by and we ended up running a 1/2 mile loop over and over with just a few side roads thrown in. Well we made it around the block one time and were headed back around when Kelly said she had to pee so we turned around and headed back to Michele's house... turned out we all needed to use the restroom!! LOL
We were at .82 of a mile when we stopped and seriously I was thinking can't we just be done now.. after all we are tapering!! We had just started to warm up when we had to stop so now we had to go through that all over again.... but it was a great run!! We just ran hard and enjoyed the view of the planets, we did some talking but during mile 2 & 3 we were all kind of strung out and not really within talking distance. We had been running pretty hard and at 2.6 I told Michele when we hit 3 miles I am slowing down but in the mean time I am going to push it as much as I can. I was doing great but we were running up one long incline and all of a sudden I felt a twinge in my left glute and hamstring I slowed down and although I could still feel something it didn't hurt anymore but I didn't want to take any chances so I backed off on the pace.
Once we got to 3 miles we slowed way down and we all started running together for the last mile. It didn't take long until I noticed we weren't running so easy anymore it wasn't hard but it wasnt' quite as slow and then when we got to the cul de sac with .2 left we all kind of just turned it on so we could get finished!!
Kelly had to leave as soon as we finished running but I went into to Michele's house and we did some stretching. Everything feels fine today but I'm very happy I have a massage appointment this afternoon!!

4 miles 37:26
9:22 avg. pace

1-9:53 (stumble & walk)
2-9:11
3-9:06
4-9:18 I was shocked when I saw this because that mile felt so easy! LOL

Contemplating running 3 miles at lunch today but I don't have anyone to run with so I don't see it happening!!