My first T3 post

I hope this doesn't freak them out... see below.


My first post :)
5:48 PM
I just wanted to say hello to my new teammates :) I just joined T3 for the CdA training and wanted to say Wassup!!! People from my last training group called me Foho if that rings any bells with anyone :) You're more than welcome to call me Priscilla, Foho, Lil P, P, slow azz, caboose, or anything new. Nice to meet all of y'all and I look forward to training with you :)

171 days to go...

Is it too early to start counting down?? I went to my first spin class last night and was very pleased to see Erin and Dionn. It was nice seeing familiar faces. Clarence, who I've trained with in Rogue, Charles (I think) who I've seen running with Rogue, and a new friend Carrie.

In short, the class was, I hate to admit this, FUN. The 30 minute core class was tough, but I expected that. I have no core right now, so I knew doing any exercise would be tough. I had to do the pushups in female girly fashion, I couldn't make it through the 3 sets of 30 second planks or the second set of 30 second planks on the ball. I could only do one or two (total, not reps) of some of the exercises, but I pretended to move as everyone else did. This will take time to build up to be able to complete everything like everyone else. Erin and Dionn tried to talk me into coming in the morning for an hour core class before this one started, and two minutes into it, I told them I wouldn't be coming :) Baby steps...

The spin class started and Maurice was nice enough to help me put my bike on the trainer and tell me how it all worked. Chrissie was the coach, and she was very detailed in what we were doing which I loved. She explained exactly what gear to be in, when to switch, what cadence we should be in, and did countdowns for us so we could tell what our cadence actually was. I was doing great and my confidence was high. My cadence was either right on or slightly higher and I thought I was flying :) Until... the one legged stuff. I thought it would be easy, but the moment I unclipped one leg, the other leg seemed to fail. My circular motion was all rickety and it seemed to be using muscles that running doesn't use. My hip was burning and my thigh felt like it was going to fall off. I kept it in my easy gear as the rest of the class geared harder and I stopped ALOT. Very tough. Chrissie said this was a good exercise because it shows which motion you need to work on that way each leg is working to its full strength without having to rely on the other. I've got some work to do.

We went back to both legs and did hills and I did a good job. I kept my cadence where it was supposed to be on all of the sets except maybe 2, but I wasn't that far off. All in all, the time went by fast and I enjoyed my first spin class :)

Only gripes so far is that it seems that most of the T3 folk are pretty dog goned serious. Noone talks, noone is cracking jokes and I'm not used to that. I talked a few times during the core, or moaned actually to no avail. I tried again during the spin. Chrissie said, "Three more minutes and we're done." and I was the only one that yelled out, "Thank God!!" I only got a smile from Chrissie. I'm sure I'll be the loud mouth retard, but I've got to liven things up. I'm used to Rogue and I'm used to the useless fun banter, this is going to take some getting used to.

I did make a new friend, Carrie. And another guy named Robert. I need to make some more :)

Thanks to Erin and Dionn for making me feel welcome and making my first class not as awkward... Now, I'm going to play on their forum and make my first post.

I survived...

Well, I survived. I got home after work yesterday, tried on my bathing suit to find more rolls than a bakery :) I've gained some weight and felt like the Stay Puff Marshmellow Man. I tried to get out of going, but both Dee and Steve wouldn't let me. And they were right, if I would have waited till the class was completely full, it would have been worse. It was freaking freezing last night, but the pool was wonderful. Nice and warm. I'm definitely out of shape in the water, but I'm glad I was able to get a good workout in.

There are two different levels, T1 and T2. T1 being for the slower beginner, such as myself. T2 being for the more advanced swimmers. I hung out in the slowest lane and did the T1 workout. Chrissy was awesome in explaining the drills and everything to me. The entire T1 workout was to be 2600 meters, and I cut it short at a little over 2000. Yay for me! That's over a mile!!! I was pooped and my shoulders are sore from using the paddles, but it's all good. Looking forward to becoming a faster more efficient swimmer. I definitely need to start working on my core and upper body. I could barely use the paddles last night because my arms are so weak :)

T3, here I come...

Well, I'm venturing out to the triathlon world tonight. I'm going to go to my first swim class and hope that I don't drown. Actually, I know I won't drown, cause fat floats :) I've gained a good 5 pounds in these last three weeks since the marathon. I've been eating and eating to my hearts content and I haven't been running as much. I'm starting to get back on track. Let's hope I can do the entire workout tonight, I'm nervous but looking forward to the challenge.

Hell Froze Over, I cooked!

I cooked!! I found a recipe that sounded good in a Martha Stewart, Mind, Body, and Soul magazine. Rustic Shrimp Stew :) It has potatoes, carrots, sausage, onions and shrimp. I made it on Friday night and we had the leftovers last night with a big salad. Not too hard and Adrian liked it. I know I can cook, just need to have all the ingredients and a recipe :)

Lori + Garmin = LONG RUN!

This mornings long run for me started slow. I can definitely tell I've gained weight from my hiatus of eating since CIM. I've completely enjoyed every food my mouth and heart has desired.

The morning was extremely humid and I felt like we were barely trotting along, but I wasn't complaining because the slow pace was about all my Ms. Chubbers could handle. So here's how it went down.

Run started at 6:30am. And we run, and run, and run... Around mile 5.5 (according to Lori's Garmin) we stopped at a convenience store for water and Gu. And then we run and run and run and run. We stop at a water stop.

Priscilla: Lori, what mile are we at??
Lori: I don't know, 7 point something...
Priscilla to Dee: FOOL, why are you Gu'ing again, we just gu'ed at 5???
Dee: I don't know, I feel like, leave me alone!!
Lori: chuckles, but Dee and Priscilla have no idea.

So we keep running, and running, and running. We run into a ton of Karen's north group. Give a ton of high five's, lots of hugs. It was great seeing everyone out. We ran into Brian Plunkett and he was still in his Team Rogue uniform from CIM, too cute!!

And then, lo and behold.

Dee: How LONG have we been running??
Lori: Uh... huh??
Dee: How LONG have we been running??
Priscilla: I don't know, I don't have a watch on.
Lori: I don't know, 2 hours.
Dee: WHAT??
Priscilla: FOOL!
Dee: FOOL
Lori: (laughing her ass off)

We stopped running by this time. We start to do calculations. On Christmas we ran 8.4 miles in an 1:20. We've run 2 hours, so we must have been well over 10. Our objective this morning was to run 10, and Lori forgot to restart her Garmin at one of our stops, so we just kept running and running till her Garmin read 10. We finally got back to our cars, and I don't think the Garmin ever hit 10, we must have run 15-16 miles. We ended at 2:51 minutes of being on the roads. We did stop at two convenience stores and stop to look at a house being renovated, but still. We ran for a good 2:30. Never got lost, we were doing a "Let's go this way" run and it lead all over town. I love these runs... just running and running and lots of talking.

Moral of today's story: Lori can not be trusted with being in charge of the distance for runs anymore. Same goes for me and picking out jeans.

Next objective: Lori and Dee are going to pick out a SHORT hair cut for me. I'm planning to chop off my hair, COMPLETELY. New year, new year, new training.

Christmas Day and ramblings

Woke up on Christmas morning and met the Cookies for a run. It was especially nice this time because Dee's husband Steve and my honey came with us. We started at our normal Burnet Road location and ran 8.5 miles at a nice conversational easy pace. Adrian and Steve ran up ahead and Dee, Lori, and I were able to run easy behind them.

Lots of gossip to catch up on. Dee's son AJ graduated from college, so we got to talk about the graduation, their Vegas trip, Lori's VO2 max testing, and a few other things. Definitely not long enough to talk about everything else we wanted to.

Got home, showered and headed to the movie. We went to see Marley and Me. What a freaking tear jerker. Both Adrian and I were bawling our eyes out with the rest of the theater. Came home, picked up our boys and went on a 2.5 mile walk around City Park. The boys had a good time. Came home, I took a 2 hour nap as Adrian cleaned up around the house. Ended the evening with a nice healthy dinner of chicken, broccoli, and a salad.

Today, I'm working from home. Doing little things here and there. Adrian's going for a ride later, and I might venture out on my bike as well. I found a recipe for shrimp stew that I might try and cook for dinner tonight. Here's to eating better.

Friends :)

I few pictures from dinner at Siena for Lori's birthday last Friday night!! I love these girls :)

100 Pushup Program

I tried to do ONE, yes ONE pushup last night and couldn't. I'm not sure I can make it through Day 1.... geez.

Triathlon vs. Marathon & How I got into Marathoning

I remember it as if it were yesterday. My best friend and I decided we'd start exercising to lose weight for a trip to Arizona. We would meet every other day or so at the DPS on Lamar and walk around the track. We would walk once, twice, then three times. Then we decided to jog. Once around, then let's see if we could do twice around. This continued until we got ourselves up to a couple miles. I remember being soooo proud. Bragging to coworkers, I ran 1 mile last night :)

Then one of her coworkers talked us into running the Flamingo 5K. 3/18/01, my first race, although this was before I knew anything, and I bandited the race. My best friend registered and I was too scared, because I thought these "races" were for professional REAL athletes, so I ran it with her. Then we decided to do the Austin American Statesman, 4/1/01. My chip time was 1:21:30, 13:08 min mile. I was pretty happy too :)

Fast forward to 2004. I joined the Runtex University free classes up at Runtex Gateway. Bruno was the guy that worked there that gave us our workouts. I actually met Clarence Lucas at these workouts!! There were others, and I was the caboose. I met a girl named Leslie and she asked me if I wanted to join their running team. I immediately told her, "No way... I'm not elite, I'm new and I'm not fast." She kept on, told me to go to www.teamjustin.com and just browse the website. Leslie wanted me to do the Distance Challenge with her, she said she'd run with me on the weekends for our long runs, and I looked up to her since she had previously run a couple marathons before and I had only done 5k's and 10k's.

I completed the Distance Challenge and signed up for the San Diego marathon since that was the next marathon to raise awareness and money for Team Justin. Noone else registered!!! So I went out and did it on my own, by myself. My first vacation solo. After the Austin marathon, I got curious about triathlons and this is where I was introduced to Rogue. I joined IronChicks, but didn't realize until after I had joined that Danskin was the weekend AFTER the San Diego marathon. I completed San Diego with a huge PR of 25 minutes and came back to do Danskin.

Crossing the finish line at Danskin was BLAH. I didn't get excited, no emotions, just, "Hmm.. so that's a triathlon." Then I started on the, I wonder if I could do an Olympic distance tri... a half Ironman.. etc. I completed all of those, and now I'm signed up for CdA Ironman, my first full. I've always known that I loved running more than tri's, but it wasn't until AFTER Team Rogue that I know this is exactly where my heart lies. When I think about all the triathlon finishes, I've never shed a tear, I've never been overly excited, just content with finishing, with PR'ing a few minutes here and there, but never real fullfillment. Sooooo, I'm planning to give it my all and complete my first Ironman, but after this I'm going back to what I love... and that's running. I just wanted to document for myself how this all started :)

Lazy Sunday and Random Stuff

Sunday consisted of Adrian and I literally being on our backs the ENTIRE day. We woke up around 9am and watched some tv, then it was 10am, then I fell asleep again, then he fell asleep again, then it was 2pm. Adrian was supposed to run 20 miles and it was going to be my chance to ride next to him as his ongoing water stop and support. We finally got out of bed and realized that my bike having a flat was a good enough excuse to not venture out into the cold. We got back into bed. We only got up to use the restroom or get more food. Around 5pm, we decided we stunk and we showered, then resumed on the coach with pizza. I know, I know... Meredith would disown me if she knew how badly I've been eating. We stayed on the couch until midnight. Only got up to put more logs on the fire or get more food to stuff in my mouth. It was nice, we never do this and it was nice to rest.

Monday - I got my macro for the first couple weeks of my new training. I faxed in my membership paperwork to T3. Figured out over the weekend that Team Rogue CIM is officially over and I'm officially off the forum :( Work is dreadfully quiet. I have more then enough work to do, but with half the office gone, it's just hard to get motivated to do anything productive, hence the blog post.

To Do List for tonight -

1. Watch the Hills :) Season Finale.
2. Do some laundry.
3. Motivate myself to get into tri training mode. Find goggles, find swim cap, find tri crap. Bike crap... crap, crap, crap...
4. Get in 3 mile run, whoopie :) I might run longer :)
5. Cuddle with cats
6. Upload pics from dinner with the Cookies and post blog
7. Get excited about tri stuff...
8. Make Adrian old fashioned Xmas present using what I have at home...
9. Repeat #6 over and over and over

16 miles of P-lic :)

Time: 6:30am
Location: Runtex to Rogue
People: P-lic and Foho
Weather: Humid, but not cold :)
Workout: attempt 16
Comments: I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous to jump back on the bus this morning. 16 miles was the shortest option for the Runtex to Rogue run. Lori was up for it, and I was up for trying. I figured if I felt like poo, I could just hitch a ride back with one of the coaches at the water stops. I woke up early, and ended up getting to Runtex at 6:00 and noticed a TON of runners there. Looks like the run started at 6am instead of 6:30, whoops. I came prepared with $$$ and was able to small talk with Ruth as we waited for a couple late runners.

Lori and I started off and I was pretty paranoid about running too slow for her pace. It's nice to run with Lori cause we're the same type of runner. It takes us a few miles to get warmed up so I wasn't too worried about pace in the beginning. I think I might have actually been pushing it more than I had to in the beginning for fear of being too slow. The conversation flowed as it always does with Lori, Dee, Linda and I. We got to catch up on all kinds of good stuff :) The miles were clicking away and it was at a nice easy slow pace.

Here's our splits, we averaged 10:34's, I'm totally happy with that!

1) 10:32
2) 10:36
3) 10:54
4) 10:13
5) 10:16
6) 11:43
7) 10:09
8) 10:37
9) 10:28
10) 10:05
11) 10:38
12) 9:57
13) 10:08
14) 12:14 SNAP, that's slow :) This was the trail run, I'll explain later...
15) 10:44
16) 9:39 short by .03

We get to the water underneath Mopac on the trail and hydrate and Lori is the most anti-trail running fool I've ever known. Most people continue on the trail till they can turn to get to downtown. Others run the Scenic route, some go the Zilker route, but not us. Here I was, stuck with Dee's twin, "Let's go this way." Yep... Team Rogue is over for me and I still get myself in the same predicaments. We crossed the street and went up the concrete path, but then we went up this Ladera Norte trail hill and before I knew it, I was running on Mopac!! Ok, I'm exaggerating, but we went the Dee way to get to 6th street. We ran all the way down to Congress and the mileage was perfect.

Great run with one of my BFF's. Glad to have my legs back and super happy to be back up to 16 miles :) Thanks Lori, I couldn't have done that alone...

Ahhh... they're baaaaack!!

Yay!! My legs are finally back. I was a little worried since I hadn't run since Sunday and it was a slow one. This was my 4th run back since the marathon.

Time: 8:00pm
Weather: Foggy, muggy, humid, icky... but not 29 degrees!
Locations: My home then out and back on Jollyville
People: Me and my iPod
Comments: Ahh... Legs finally felt ok. Ran with the Garmin so I could see where my fitness was.

1) 10:24
2) 9:53
3) 9:40
4) 9:23
5) 9:19

Nice little progressive pace, negative splits, yaya!! It definitely wasn't a walk in the park, but I'm glad I got my legs back and I wasn't in the 11's or 12's.

Perception Check: It's crazy how just two weeks ago running 9:00's or even barely sub 9:00's felt like a walk in the park, and tonight trying to get to MGP felt impossible. I remember each mile just clicking away at CIM, 9:00, 8:57, 9:05 etc... like it was nothing. Tonight, just trying to stay under 10:00 seemed like hardwork. Good stuff.

I won $10,000!!!!

Well, first let me say how much I love my job. It's cliche to say that we're one big family, but the relationships we have are awesome. I really love my job. This week is Secret Santa. Yes, some people might say how quirky and retarded doing the "office holiday spirit" type things are, but coming from working in a husband/wife business for 10 years, I totally indulge and LOVE this crazy Michael Scott type stuff.

Secret Santa gift #1 - Monday....

I recieved a small wrapped box labeled, small adhesive dot rolls. First thought was, "Cool!!! Someone really put some thought into this!" We were also decorating cubes, and my plan was to cover my entire cube with wrapping bows. I thought these "adhesive dots" were to help with the bow applicating. Wrong! I open the box and there's a little red bag with embroidery on it. "You've been naughty" Inside there was coal. Great gag gift. I loved it.

Secret Santa gift #2 - Tuesday...

$10 Starbucks card... I don't drink coffee.. but I've gotten a lot of hot chocolate.

Secret Santa gift #3 - Wednesday....

Lottery tickets. Everyone in the office knows I love to gamble, I frequent poker games when my running allows it. So I'm scratching and holy shit! I won $10,000. To be brief... I immediately started screaming... "Holy shit, holy shit, come check this out, did I really win, is this a winner." And my entire, yes entire office walks over, handing the card from person to person as I sit at my desk shaking, sweating and my mind racing. I immediately thought, "I can buy a tri bike for this Ironman, I can buy our Idaho tickets, I can buy, I can buy... I need to give my Secret Santa $2,000... over and over" One of my coworkers says, "Check it on the website." So I, in all the madness, pull up the website and see my ticket. I didn't, but thought I did. This went on for about 10 legitimate FULL minutes. My boss called.. and I say, "Matt, guess what... holy shit. Shut the fuck up, guess what???" I told him and he got just as excited as I did. He told me to take the rest of the day off. I replied that we had a meeting and I still had some things to finish and he said screw it, take the day off, leave, go redeem. And this is when I turn the card over and read in detail.

To redeem, please take this to Yo Mama's House. It was fake. Merry F-ing Christmas to me :)

Wow...

I met this guy on myspace years ago. He commented on my page and I had totally forgot about him. Check out his website. http://www.fiddy2.org/ He ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise money. Can you imagine?? And he had only run 6 marathons in his entire life before he started this. That's right where I am :) No way in hell would I ever do this. How in the world does his body let him run marathons, week after week, after week???? He's got impressive times too....

Check out this cut and paste from his myspace page!
Extreme Runner - Motivational Speaker

• Invited to be the Charity Chaser for the 2008 Under Armour Baltimore Marathon on October 11th, 2008. I passed all but 99 runners (both marathon and relay) of a possible 5,887 participants raising nearly $12,000 for the United Way.

• Invited as a solo runner to MBC Hangang Marathon in Seoul, Korea on April 27, 2008. I made this marathon my 4th marathon in 13 days and posted a time of 2:56 in pouring rain.

• Ran the Boston Marathon course twice in one day on April 21, 2008, joining race director Dave McGillivray in running the course mere hours after completing the fabled race in a time of 3:01.

• Selected by Metro Sports DC as its Athlete of the Month for its July 2007 issue.

• Invited to the Dalian International Marathon in Dalian, China on June 17, 2007 by the Li-Ning running shoe company as its special guest.

• Chosen as the first person ever to be featured in a Road ID advertisement (July 2007 -Runner's World.)

• Frederick Marathon’s first ever "Charity Chaser" where I passed 1572 of a possible 1600 runners.

One of four runners chosen to represent The 50 States Marathon Club at the MBC Hangang Marathon in Seoul, Korea on April 29, 2007.

• Selected co-Male Runner of the Year by the Washington Running Club for 2006.• One of MarathonGuide.com’s Outstanding USA Marathoners of the Year – 2006.

• Only male member of Team Tiara, the charity running leg of Girls on the Run International for his work at the Shamrock Marathon in 2006

Fun race!! Great pics

What in the world was I doing?? :) I love it.. on pace, off pace, i was having the time of my life! Thanks Mr. Nedra for the great shots :)

And if you think these are goofy, you should see my race pics. www.sportphoto.com bib #4219... I wish these damn things weren't so expensive, I'd buy some.

Trail run/T3 signup

Sunday, Adrian and I took the boys to St. Edwards park to switch things up. I ran up ahead, then would back track back and so on. With MULTIPLE breaks, I timed 30 minutes of running. This was all within an hour, so I probably ran 5 minutes, rested 5 minutes type of thing. I really missed the trails, looking forward to getting back to that.

Next week, I'm going to bite the bullet and start filling out my paperwork to start T3 training. Dee and I ran into Ruth this weekend at the Jingle Bell 5k and she mentioned running Austin as a bad idea. So I think I'm going to go back to my original decision and just pace a friend in. I'm planning on getting back on my bike this week and start that up. Ugh.. I'm still dreading it, not looking forward to switching from running to tri stuff, but I need to get dedicated. Ironman, here I come.. woo hoo. BLAH! I'm going to start Meredith's weight loss program, get my nutrition where it needs to be. Hopefully, I'll lose a good 10-15 pounds to get me to where I need to be.

Here's for trying to get re-motivated... Day one.. and I already miss Team Rogue.

First Run Back - Yeouch!!

When: Saturday, Dec 13 - 6 days after marathon
Time: 8:30am
Where: Dr. Z's office on Anderson Lane
People: Dee and I
Comments: Wow... the entire season I have had on and off again tweaks with both of my calves and my right hip. Saturday morning, my right hamstring was super sore. I felt this directly after the marathon, the day after the marathon and so on. I just chalked it up to the marathon. I'm always sore, and I'm always that runner that is gimping around for a few days after the marathon. This time it was my fault. I got lazy and with all the commotion of having my running bud in the medical tent, by the time we got back to the hotel, I was just too cold to withstand an ice bath. I didn't do recovery either, big no no.

Anyways, we started off and my legs felt heavy, but towards the middle, I was toast. I felt wiped out, heavy legs, no energy, and my heart was racing and my breathing was erratic. Dee seemed to be feeling much better and I tried to run faster for her sake, but the wheels just weren't moving. We ran over to NW Park and saw Kristen and Sisson running. I made a mental note... she's 4 weeks out from her SA marathon, so worst case, it should take 4 weeks to get the feeling back. Half way through my right hamstring actually hurt so I stopped to stretch and slow things down. It irritated me the rest of the run.

We ended up with 6.5 miles, not too bad, and we were only out there an hour, hour and a half, so our pace wasn't toooo incredibly slow, but it was slow.

To my P-lic

Thanks for all the lovin' ;)

To my BaFaDuh

Thanks, Dee for being the best training bud anyone could ask for :)

Need Gu?

I keep my Gu in my running bra :) Here's proof... works well. No need to worry about pins, nothing flopping around at your waste band, no chafing on your side (although there has been chafing when only wearing one bra, two bras are necessary to prevent this), I never forget where it is, and it keeps it warm.

I should patent this idea and become a millionaire. This idea also works for triathlons. Why reach around to your back, when you can have it available up front :)

My marathon pic

Seems like this is the cool thing to do. Fellow bloggers have a picture, so I thought I'd copy. If anyone knows me, they know I'm a follower. Sisson actually told me during office hours a couple weeks ago that I have a severe case of FOMO. Fear of Missing Out. Most definitely. I've read it on Erin's blog, but never really thought of it. So here's my picture of my medal. It's next to the gynormous list of things I learned, things I need to do on my next marathon, things I did right, and my times from my Garmin, and my pace band. Now I fit in :)

Friends Forever

Well, I'm not going to lie, going into this trip, I had some doubts that we'd all still be friends when the trip was over :) HAAA!!! NOT! These two girls are by far the greatest gals in all the world. Lori's got the full blown truth factor. You don't ever have to worry about her not telling you what she thinks, whether it be my choice in men, my running, or as simple as my fashionable wardrobe. Dee on the other hand, has been the ears for me this past year. Run after run after run, she's heard me cry and miss Adrian when we were apart. She's heard all of my stories of my dysfunctional family. She's been the voice of reason when things didn't go my way when it comes to men, relationships, friendships and other random things. These two women are the best. I was at my last job for almost 10 years, and I was too scared to leave. Too scared to see what was out there, too scared that I might fail, but the moment I said I was ready, they were with pen in hand to help me with my resume, give me advice on interviewing skills, and opinions on job offerings. It's funny, I had only been with my new employer for 6 months when the producer I was working for decided to move. In the insurance industry, and with his contract, he was able to take one employee with him. Having only been there for 6 months, he chose me and I'm forever grateful to have had Lori and Dee to lean on. They were a huge part in me getting the job I love and have today. My boss and I joke around alot and one day, we discussed my hiring.. and he said the one thing that stood out and topped it off for him was the thank you card I sent. Not sure which one told me to do this, but it sealed the deal on me getting the job vs. other candidates.

It's very rare that you come across friends like this and I'm forever grateful. I know friends come and go, but in my heart I know these fools will be a part of my life forever. They've made me want to become a better person in all aspects of my life. They've taught me that settling isn't an option and I deserve more in life. More from my job, more from the man I decide to share my life with, more from my coach, more from running, more from friends, and life in general.

Thank you, fools. I can't imagine my life without you crazy crackheads. And thank you Rogue for bringing them to me :)

Final Results

Chip time: 4:05:34
Bib 4219
Division: age group 171/355
Overall: 2848
Overall pace: 9:24
13.1 time: 1:59:30
Sex rank: 901

23 minute PR!!!! Hell yeah!!!!!!

CIM Marathon Race Report - Race of my life...

I had the race of my life and I learned some valuable, valuable lessons in the meantime. The journey from when Team Rogue started to now has made me a better person in the process along with a better runner. More on this later.

Race report: We (Dee, Steve, Lori, and myself) all got into California on Friday afternoon. We made it over to the expo, to a drug/grocery store, and to a nice dinner on Friday night. Saturday, we spent it going to the start to drop off Steve, Lori, Leslie and Jimmy for their 13 mile long run as Dee and I drove the course and aided as water stops. Went to the Team meeting and it was off to relax. Dee, Lori, and I went to Macy's in search for better clothing attire. I admit I'm not fashionable in my wardrobe, but they were determined to get me in some nice jeans. Made it back to the hotel and we relaxed for the rest of the evening. Crucial mistake, but not regretting it, I switched my Garmin from four screens with Time, Pace, Avg Pace, and Distance to only two screens. Time/Avg Pace. I also planned to wear a regular stop watch on my right hand for fear of my Garmin dying, it had done this in past Soulbusters, so wanted a backup. I was planning on wearing my 3:56 pace band on my left arm, and 4:00 on my right.

Race morning: I woke up at 1:30 and it was impossible to go back asleep. I tossed and turned, trying to not to wake Lori, and then around 2:00am all I heard was, "Fool..." and I felt giggly. Dee was wide awake too. We scurried out to the hallway as I ate my muffin with peanut butter, then we decided to go back to attempt to rest. Dee went back to sleep, and I started playing an iPhone game that Lori showed me and beat her record high :) Around 3:00 I decided to try again. I fell asleep, but quickly awoke without the alarm at 3:45am. We started getting dressed and ready to go. I miraculously took a poop :) TMI, I know.. but the ones that know me, know that this is a huge issue for me. I was delighted that it happened.

Met in the lobby, got teary eyed hearing Sisson speak. I just kept repeating and going over with Dee... stay on pace till 19, effort, relax uphills, don't push on the downhills, DON'T RUN 15-19 FASTER THAN MGP, let it go at 19, charge 21 bridge, yell "is that all you've got?" take it home... count the streets down. I repeated this over and over and over and over. Stay focused. This is my race. This is my day. I've done the hardwork. This is SoulBuster 4, time to make it happen. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. The bus ride over was the same thing. Just kept repeating, checking in with Dee here and there, but for the most part the Rogue members on the bus were quiet. Katie, Jon, Brenda, Mike, Clemmie, and Andrea were all on my bus. I was so relaxed, that I think I might have fallen asleep for a few minutes. We got to the start, and the nerves kicked in. Clemmie and Andrea went to the potties. Then Dee. Then they all came back. We waited till 6:30 to venture out. It got there in no time.

6:30, we head off the bus, hit the portopotties with NO lines :) I took another small poop, yay me... and Dee and I went to the start. We found the 4:00 pacer and Dee introduced herself and we just stood there. "Can you believe we're here???" I went over the same race strategy, repeated it one last time. Gave Dee and big huge hug, told her I believed in her, this was our day and I loved her. Then I stood there... hahahaha. She said, "FOOL!" and I said, "What??" She said go get up there. I was going to run 9:00's till 19 which is a 3:56, then take it home at 19. So I thought for a millisecond, "I can stand by you if I want!!' and she gave me that look and I knew. I knew if I started with her, I wouldn't want to leave so I proceeded up further. I was no in back of the 3:50 and in front of the 4:00. Star Spangled Banner played and I teared up. I kept thinking... "this is my race, this is my race, this is my day, stay focused..." Race started...

Mile 1, Garmin clocked an 8:57. Immediate thought, holy shit, I'm doing it. Teared up, and remembered not to waste emotional energy, stay focused.

Miles 2-3, 8:54, 9:01. Garmin showed average pace of 8:57, but when I got to the mile markers, the pace was right at 9:00. I did a quick thinking and I can't go by my Garmin, chip time will be official, so I made a mental note that the Garmin was 3 seconds off per mile. Saw Ruth and Steve, got a high five from Steve and yelled out, "I'm on pace, motherf-er!!' Smiled and was on my way.

Mile 4) 8:56
5) 8:55
6) 9:05
7) 9:02
8) 9:05
9) 9:04
10) 8:49

Miles were clicking away. My 3:56 pace band was even splits, so it was easy AT FIRST to calculate how fast or how slow I was by my watch at each mile. I remember being a few seconds too fast, then slowly, 10 seconds too slow, 15 seconds, 32 seconds. The miles were going, my legs felt great. The hills I remember conscienceously saying "Effort, relaxed, it's ok." Then on the downhills, I would just relax and let it go. No intentional effort to make up time, just let gravity take it. I was on pace. I was doing it. This was my day. Over and over, I was talking to myself, outloud, I didn't care. I'm doing this. I'm doing this.

11) 8:57
12) 9:12
13) 8:56
14) 9:03
15) 9:05

I was there, up to mile 15. I just kept clicking them away. This was an advanatage to not having my pace on my Garmin... I was going by feel. My race was happening. I had a quick reminiscence of Austin 2007. I fell apart at 13 and here I was at 15 and felt on fire. Legs felt great, quads felt used, but overall I was feeling awesome!! My mistake and freak out came at mile 16. Mental note, and verbally, DON'T RUN THESE NEXT FEW MILES FAST, DON'T RUN THESE NEXT FEW MILES FAST!!! Sisson said he's not responsible if I run these fast... I saw the downhill, got tempted and just ran. Mile 16 was 9:15, but I didn't know my splits, so I kept running.

I got to mile 17 and misread my f-ing, damn watch. I was supposed to be at
2:33:01 and at the 17 mile marker I read 2:32 and FREAKED OUT. I thought I had just run an 8:00 instead of a 9:00 min mile and put on the brakes. I panicked. I didn't have my pace on my Garmin, so I had no clue. I wasted too much energy freaking out and slowing down. Instead I should have gone by my feel, because I was fine.

17) 9:33
18) 9:30
19) 9:41 (one of these miles, I yes... took a crap in someones front yard. Only a 20 second poop. It was fast, but it was necessary. Perpetuem that I had taken for the last two long runs, was messing with my stomach, so I ditched it.)

I was (now looking at my splits) 1:24 too slow for a 3:56, but in my mind, I was so discombobbled that I switched to my right arm. I started using my 4:00 paces, but forgot to switch the mentality about my 3:56. From here on, I was REALLY slower than I was mentally thinking. Every time I thought I was 1, 2, 3 minutes slower I thought I was still under 4:00, but I was slowly creeping up and it was slipping away, but i had no idea. I didn't know my paces at each mile, and i was too confused to do the math.

20) 9:18, this pickup was the start of my retarded running. I felt that I was negative splitting. In my mind, I was running 8:30's, 8:00's. I thought I was running the race Steve prescribed. In my mind, I was on fire. The pickup now that I see was my too slow miles from freaking out thinking I was running too fast from 9:41 to 9:18. In my mind, I was running 9:00 to 8:30.

I saw Steve and Ruth, and Ruth said I was still on course for 4:00 and I remember thinking, 'Yeah.. I'm WAY ahead!" She ran by me for a few seconds, gave me some hints and was on my way. I was confused on my paces, but looking back, I'm glad that I was on the reverse end of it. I'm glad that I ran these next miles happy and thinking I was flying rather than reverse. I wasn't bonking in past marathons. My legs were tired, but I wasn't dying. I didn't have the Austin 2008 shuffle. Dee did New Orleans so she ran me in from 20-26, and I was barely moving back then. My breath was short, my legs were gone, and I was shuffling. Not today. My legs were turning over and in my mind I was crusing.

Not so much, looking at my splits, but I've come a long way from past marathons where the last miles were always in the 11:00's, and 12:00's, and even 13:00's trying to hang on.

21) 9:48
22) 9:57
23) 9:39
24) 9:55
25) 9:48

Here is where I realized that I was off. My watch said 3:55:17. It's wierd how I remember the exact split, but there it was. Another mass confusion on my part. "What the fuck??" I should be at the finish, is this right?? I even looked back to make sure the mile marker said 25 and not 26. I should be crossing now??? What happened?? And it dawned on me... I was using the 4:00, not the 3:56. They saying running is mental and boy is it ever. The minute I noticed this, I literally gave up for about 10-15 seconds. I just kept going over and over, "What happened?? Did this mean I was on pace earlier, what were my paces just a minute ago, how did I let this happen?" I did the number one thing Steve said not to do. I fell asleep. I fell asleep from miles 20-25. I was dead asleep. In my mind, I THOUGHT I was running faster. I wasn't checking my times and being anal like I was in the beginning and this is where I left my race. The miles when I saw Lori's ass (thank you very much) the miles when I screamed "Is that all you've got" were all asleep. I was in my own little lala land and I fell asleep. At mile 25, I actually stopped and walked through a water stop, still just going over and over and over trying to figure out where I screwed up, then I remembered past marathons. I can't give up, I can still do this. I also thought, if I'm on pace for over a 4:00, where's Dee?? I finished my last mile, Sisson appeared out of nowhere and said, "Let's go, let's go, let's go..." and I picked it up. Two seconds later, I see this bobbling red 4:05, and I told the guy ahead of me, "Oh hell no!" We can't let him pass us, goooo, I'll follow! We can't let him pass, I can't go out like this. The moment I picked it up, I noticed... Wow. This feels good. I could have been running faster, what happened. So I surged to the end. My watch showed 4:05 something, and I was done. I sat on the curb to take my chip off, and then I started looking for Dee. She had to have been right on my ass.

There she was after the turn, but she was leaning BACKWARDS and as far right as her body would let her. Her eyes were big and she was OUT of it. I screamed, and she was moving. Her feet were going, and as she passed the finish line, she collapsed. I was there within 5 seconds. I was terrified and freaked out. She had red coming from everywhere on her mouth, teeth, tongue, lips. People were screaming for medics, and I yelled, "Help!" The medics got there and I told them she was bleeding. What's wrong, why's she bleeding?? Her eyes were as big as I don't know?? I just kept telling her, "I'm here, I love you, you're ok, I'm here." And all she kept saying was, "I tried to straighten up, I tried to straighten up." We got her from the finish to the street away from the finishers then to the grass, then to a wheelchair. Long story short, and I'm sure she'll tell her side in her blog. She was at a core temperature of 88, she was dehydrated and freaked out. Within 5 minutes, Lori was there. Then Ruth, then Trevor. 30-45 minutes and warmed up, we were all giggling and she was better. 3 cups of hot chicken broth, 5 blankets, lots of love, and she gave it her all.

Through all of this, I learned great things. I've grown as a person, I've started doing things I want to do. I started thinking for me. I switched coaches midway and did it for me, for reasons I wanted and it paid great dividends. I became closer to the friends that I always knew would be there for me and I've made several new friends I never thought I'd ever think. Before Team Rogue I had the stereo type that the fast runners were stuck up, now I know they're just like us slower runners. We all have the same issues, we are all battling the same things. We all want to better runners. I'd like to thank Karen for being the coach that got me to drink the Kool-Aid, for Ruth and Steve that made me think that nothing was too far out of my reach. For Meredith for trying to get me where I needed to be nutritionally, and boy do I have a ton of work to do. For Dee, she was my strength. We did everything together and CIM was all about us starting something together and ending something together. Lori, this race would have had a different outcome if she had not been there. Dee's husband Steve for putting up with us. For my Adrian for coming back into my life. I had gone full circle in this Team Rogue training. I've gone leaps and bounds in my life and it couldn't have been done without everyone's part. To all the fasties for all those 20 mile runs of having you guys pass me shirtless, and letting me act a fool. To Mike, to Larry, Ken, Bruce, Tausha, Kristen, Clemmie, Andrea, the Northies - Ash, Heidi, Andi, Andy, Brian, Josh, all you fools, Mae, James, etc., to Tim, Mandi... to all the people I thought before would never speak to a "slow" runner. I'm truly blessed to call you my friends.

I'm a Rogue forever.

A little tempo solo :)

Well, I suck. If it's not a Saturday morning long run, the chances of me getting out of bed to get to Rogue at 5:30 are slim to none. I just can't get my fat-tard butt out of bed. I told Clemmie, Dee, and Ruth that I would do the Tuesday morning workout since we were all planning on going to Sisson's office hours.

I set my alarm for 4:30, snoozed it till 5:15am. Too late to get there. I got completely dressed to run, and made the mistake of looking at my Weatherbug on the computer. 38 degrees. Hell naw!! I packed my stuff, did some things around the house and did my run after work and was late to office hours.

Workout: warm up, then run 4 miles at MGP, cool down.

I parked on the trail and did the 7 mile loop from Mopac to 35. The warm up felt good, but I automatically start freaking out at the effort level for a 10:00 min mile, wondering how running 1:00 minute per mile. Then I start getting competitive about who's passing me on the trails. Things run through my mind like, "she's fat, she shouldn't be passing me", "look at her form, she sucks, why's she passing me." AND THEN as I was getting onto the 35 bridge there was this asian chick behind me that looked like she was crawling!! I thought to myself, "I've got her beat!" then two minutes later she's passing me!! Just goes to show, I'm an idiot and all kinds of people can run fast. I would just rather assume that you have to look like our Fasties look in Team Rogue or our Mandi in Ruth's group. Super cut, slim, no body fat. Just goes to show that I can't judge the book by it's cover.

After the asian chick passed me, my Garmin beeped and it was time to go for MGP for 4 miles. Effort felt hard for the first 2 miles, but the last two felt like gold. Every time I looked at my Garmin it showed I was running faster (MGP 9:00) like 8:35, 8:47, but I ignored it thinking it was my run today solo. After checking my splits, I've realized I'm not looking at my Garmin but every 3 miles as Sisson prescribed.

1) 9:52
2) 9:44
3) 8:57
4) 8:59
5) 8:59
6) 8:55
7) 10:33

Not too shabby :) Good confidence booster. I did find myself slipping into, maybe I should just go for 3:50, but now I see that my 9:00 mile will be perfect till mile 18-20 and then I'm going balls to the wall chasing to see if I can get to under 3:55. I just can't wait. 9:00 even mile, puts me at 3:56. I know 150% positive that I can get to mile 18-20. I think I will have some ups and downs mentally, but I know in my heart if I just tell the negative thoughts to STFU, that this is MY race, then I can and will do it!!! After that, I'm going to imagine myself on the track for SoulBuster II. I thought I was dying on those last 4 miles, but with a couple cheers from Sisson, I dug and I got there. I left it on the track and I'm going to leave in out in California. This is my race. My goal and my game is going to see how much I can shave off 3:56 in the last miles. If I can dig out 8:30s for the last 6.2, that's a good 3 minutes, which puts me at 3:53. I'm going to dig. It would be a miracle to run 8:00's and hit my original, "I think this goal is too much, but I'm going to train for it, but now I'm too scared" goal of 3:50. So here are my goals on paper...

A goal: 3:56
B goal: sub 4:00
C Goal: PR from 4:28

what's before A??
Z goal: sub 3:55
Y goal: sub 3:53
X dream, holy shit, I'd crap my pants goal: 3:49:59

1.5 hours of driving to work

Just needed to vent. It took me 1.5 hours to get to work this morning. 30 minutes of was sitting on Cesar Chavez. Lights were turning green and cars weren't moving. Cars were getting stuck in the middle of intersections, people were irritated and all I could do was play with my iPhone. Imagine all the money and time we would save if all companies would just let us work from home!!!!! I'm envious of my friends that have this luxury. I've been up since 5:30am, and it's now 8:40am... think of all the work I could have done in three hours.

Still need to run, woke up too late to make it down south. Got completely dressed, shoes on and tied, but couldn't take the step outside. Instead started doing laundry, vaccumed, and did other non-running things. I'll have to run after work, and be late to Office Hours...

Weekend full of tapering

Friday, I worked half a day. Surprised Adrian with tickets to Cirque Dreams. We got all dressed up in Austin wardrobe.. jeans and comfy shirts, had a ubber fancy dinner at Souper Salads, then ventured to the show. Pretty amazing acrobats. My favorite were the two balancing guys. Have no clue how they balance on some of the things they did.

Saturday, I only ran 10. Taper madness in full effect. I've become super paranoid. Around mile 8-9, my calf felt tight and ouchy. I cut the run short and only did 10. Adrian went for a 3.5 hour bike ride with a buddy. While I was showering after my run, he doused me with a big ole cup of cold water. While he showered, I got him back. Hilarious times :) These are the moments I missed so much when we weren't together. We're big into practical jokes, and what's better than seeing the one you love covered in soap and gasping for air as you splash ice cold water. Two weeks ago, after a 20+ miler, I was doing my ice bath and he came in and turned on the jets to the bathtub!!! I thought I was going to die!!! Good stuff.

Sunday, I laid around till around 2pm. Slept in. Ate more salad, wierd craving??? Watched a ton of goofy shows.

Monday, attempted to work. Really tried to work, but instead helped coordinate the rest of the dinner reservations for Friday. Last day of work is Wednesday and it can't get here soon enough.

I've quit stressing about the race. It's gonna happen and I need to just let it happen. Being female, I tend to overanaylze... I'm going to quit overanalyzing my race. Get to California and just let it happen, have a good time while doing it, remember to smile, and be grateful to have the legs underneath me to make something as magical as another marathon happen :)

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Turkey Day!!

Tuesday: I ran 5.5 miles, thinking I was running 7-9, my bad!
Wednesday: Met the girls for our weekly run. Good stuff, lots to catch up on and TONS of BIG DOG sightings!! Lori's house renovations are going awesomely!! Little over 6 miles in. Calf causing some problems, I rolled that night.
Thursday: Jon & Kate plus 8 told me to not run... so I laid in bed with the boyfriend and we were total slackers...
Friday: planning to go for a short run to make up for my laziness yesterday and sweat out some of this cheesecake!!!

I'm an aunt!!

My sister had her baby yesterday, Alexis Michelle Bell. Not sure on the spelling, but she's a beauty. 8 lbs, 1 oz. She looks just like my sister when she was born.. funny how that happens.

Welcome to the world, Alexis!!

Office Hours

I went to Sisson's office hours and got a good earful. I learned that I have a long road ahead of me in order to get to where I want to be with my running. After California, I'm planning on doing the training for the Ironman in Couer d'Alene. I've been going back and forth in the last few weeks about if I really wanted to do this. I'm finally becoming the runner I never thought I could be, and seeing this improvement has been a mental mess when it comes to triathlons. I don't want to miss out on Team Rogue Boston.

Dee told me to make a pro's and con's list last night. I made one this morning and it helped. In order to get my running to where I want it, 6 months of training and putting in the time to the Ironman will be one of my steps. I need to lose 10-15 pounds, and this will do it. I need to quit failing with my eating habits and truly commit to Meredith and making the right food choices. I desperately need to get some major hours in the saddle if I'm going to attempt to do 112 miles. In a running perspective, I can't run a mile without walking and I'm attempting a marathon. I hate the bike, and I have 6 months to learn to love it.

Sisson told me some other pyschological things I need to work on, but they are going to take time. I'm 31, and just now realizing I haven't found me yet. Hard, hard work ahead, but I'm up for it!!!

Ironman, here I come, then Boston here I come, then 3:30, 3:20, 3:15... Sisson said I could get as fast as 3:00 if I put in the hard work. Seems impossible now, but never in a million years (2004 when I ran 4:57) did I ever think running a 3:56 would have been something I know I can crush. Speed is relative to the time and effort put into the training.

I can do this!

Recovery Ride and quality time with the boyfriend

Adrian needed to do his long run and he thought that me riding next to him on my bike would be a good idea and good motivator for him to do the full mileage and for me to spin my legs out. Adrian and I don't workout together, because I can't keep up in any of the disciplines. He swims too fast for me, he's WAY too fast on the bike, and he's a way faster runner...

This was perfect. The bike was nice and easy for me, and the funny thing was that when we hit any type of incline, it actually took hard effort for me to keep up with him on the hills :) A little over 1:30 for him to run his 15 miles and I got to do a little recovery ride. I still hate the bike...

Good day, just wish tomorrow weren't Monday....

Soulbuster III

Time: 5:50am
Location: Runtex Gateway
Weather: Cold, but not windy
People: Mainly Dee :)
Comments: I was really looking forward to the workout, but for some reason as I got to Runtex, I was nervous. I think I have some issues when it comes to the marathon approaching. All through the program, I've talked big and felt confident, but two weeks out the mental games are driving me crazy. I'm not sure if it's because of the huge PR, or the high marathon goal I originally started out with, or what?? But whatever it is, today was a huge lesson in figuring it out.

Warm up to the track, 1 mile all out and I could tell right off I wasn't going "all out" I was pushed, but I wasn't feeling like I was pushing, the way I did at SB I. Lap 1, Lap 2, then Lap 3, the Fasties passed and I had a "what the hell am I doing??" I pushed, and then the last lap I tried to push all out, but it was too late. 7:23, my first SB was a 7:11. Too slow, hmpf. Cool down to North Hills.

Sisson was at the water stop and we had a heart to heart. He gave me a new mantra and basically told me to get my head out of my ass. I need to work through whatever it is that I'm struggling with, come to the realization that I've done the hardwork and I can do it. I need to quit pussy footing around the fact that I CAN DO IT!!! I need to get it through my head that I'm healthy, non-injured, only have minor tweaks and I can do this. The 10 miles at MGP were up and down for me. One minute I felt like this was a piece of cake, then I felt like I was having to work too hard, then back to feeling good.

Here are my splits... goal pace for 3:56 marathon, 9:00 flat
1) 9:09
2) 8:57
3) 8:47
4) 8:54
5) 9:17
6) 9:20 - I don't think my Garmin stopped, this was a Sisson water stop
7) 9:11
8) 9:12
9) 9:10
10 ) 9:04
11) 12:09 - can you tell the MGP is over :) Legs felt heavy, and we took a wrong turn, and had to back track
12) 12:56
13) 11:27
14) 11:38
15) 11:26
16) 11:24
17) 10:42
18) 10:48
19) 10:16

We also did 1.6 warm up, 1 on the track and 1 to North Hills.

The hills after MGP were bad. I couldn't get my legs to move, couldn't get my breathing down and it was a great mental exercise for me. I kept repeating to myself "Peaks and Valleys, Peaks and Valleys" For every valley, I'm going to have a peak.

I'm sad that today was our last "long" run. I'm going to genuinely miss this program. I'm planning on doing Team Rogue Boston, and hope that many others on the Team will continue. One more Saturday run and it's off to California :) Good day...

Speed plus Sisson = Great workout!

Time: 5:30pm
Location: Rogue Equipment
Weather: Freaking windy as heck, and cold.
Workout: warm up to 1 mile loop, 6 x 1 mile at 10k, cool down back to store.
Comments: It was pretty chilly and the wind was brutal. Ruth had a Coaches meeting, so we had Sisson as our coach. Neat stuff!! Although, I found myself being "good" instead of the "yip yapping telling on Dee" self that I normally am. Keeping this short, have too much work to do.
10k mile for a 3:56 marathon (I switched again) is an 8:05
1) 7:59
2) 7:50
3) 8:00
4) 8:01
5) 8:15
6) 8:11

Sisson said to not get too disappointed if our splits were off because of the wind... and on the last two I slowed down because of the wind AND I think I went out too fast in my beginning splits and was just getting tired. Super happy that I pulled this workout off, I was nervous about it when I read the workout. Also, it's crazy to think I ran the IBM 10k this fast without recovery. Good stuff.

5 miles with the ladies :)

Time: 5:45pm
Location: Burnet Road
Weather: Nice
Workout: 5 miles easy
Comments: I got talked into going to a happy hour for work, argh. I normally get off at 4:30 which gives me plenty of time to miss all the big traffic and get to our meeting place around 5pm. I told my boss I'd go from 4:30 to 5pm, and so I waited, and waited and waited... ARGH!!! At 5pm, she said I didn't have to go. UGH! So now I'm in traffic and it took me a good 30-45 minutes to get there. We started the run and it was already dusk. We missed a turn, but made it up. I tripped, but thankfully caught myself. Good run. The pace felt nice and steady, but when we looked at the Garmin, showed pretty slow. Oh well, easy run in! 5 miles down and 2 weeks and 3 days to go till CIM!

Follow up

Short and sweet to get caught up.

Sunday: Amazing time in San Antonio with Dee. We caught up with Sisson at mile 9 and followed him around San Antonio. Thank goodness, because we would have been lost souls. We were able to cheer for Kristen, Ramon, Cheryl, Larry, Karen, Andi, Jim, and Angie. Great, great time. Super inspiring to see Kristen do negative splits and Cheryl pull off her superwoman. Incredible stuff. I could have easily slept in and found myself pretty tired by the time I got back home. Thanks Dee for driving, even if you drive like a bat out of hell.

Got home to the boyfriend that had been in bed all morning, which is SO not like him. No time for me to nap. We went for a walk with the boys that took 2.5 hours on Kenny's trail. Beautiful stuff. Although, there were two points that I freaked out. The first one, we had to climb up this wall, and I thought I got stuck. Not too bad. 2nd one was a major freak out. Anyone close knows I'm terrified of heights. There was a section on the trail where you had to walk along side a drop off. Our two boys walked across fine, Adrian walked across fine, but I slowly kept stooping down clinging to the side. It was probably two feet across, but it was slanted. The edge was a CLIFF. I'm probably being dramatic, but I was freaking out. I was stooped all the way down, clinging to the side. We were there for about 15 minutes as Adrian tried to sweet talk me across. I even started crying. I'm a wuss, a very big wuss. Thankfully, I made it across, and the rest of the walk/hike was nice. I think it was too much for my legs, the day after running close to 29 miles, but it was nice to end a Sunday.

Monday - OFF, went home and was in bed before 8pm and slept through the night.

Tuesday - went to office hours, good stuff. Finally figured out my race plan, but still think it needs some tweaking. Was home by 9pm and went directly to bed. No tv, no nothing.

All caught up :) A little over 2 weeks away... craziness.

Longest run of my life :) 28.74

Time: 5am
Location: Rogue Equipment and all of Austin
People: Team Rogue, ran with Dee and Clemmie
Workout: 27 miles
Weather: Cold and WINDY!
Comments: I got to Rogue early, rolled my calves out as much as I could handle the pain. Got to catch up with a few of the Northies that have disappeared over the last few weeks. Was able to join Kamran in his hip hopping rolling party, gave the Fasties a hard time for not wearing their short shorts and give Mike a hard time for having everything from the kitchen sink on his fuel belt.

Run started and the chatter began. We hate running on the trail when it's dark, because we are already the caboose of Team Rogue and not being able to see the ground slows us down even more. We hoped up on the roads and around mile 2, I made a pit stop at the first port o potty. Hills seem to slow us down, and later realized that it was the howling wind blowing us backwards. Miles clicked by, the pace was ungodly slow, but based on effort, it felt comfortable. I decided to ignore the Garmin for pace and just use it for miles run. Conversation was interesting, but the stops were multiple. I stopped again at mile 6 and Clemmie confessed to drinking a quart of water in the middle of the night and she had to stop several times to go.

At Pecos, we all took a wrong turn thinking we knew where we were and where were going, and added miles.

Shoal Creek was ok, but the wind gusts were brutal. Dee's foot starting bothering her with the multiple stops, so she turned around just short of 183, and Clemmie and I continued. We picked up the pace after Dee left us, not because she left, but because the wind was now at our backs. Every time I looked at my Garmin it showed 9:xx, which was nice.

Splits were:
13:12
11:48
10:45
11:41
11:04
11:25
10:37
11:10
10:33
11:12
12:13
11:31
10:34
10:50
10:20
10:16
9:59
10:11
9:43
9:52
10:03
10:36
9:34
9:51
9:16
11:16
9:52
10:00
.74 miles - 7:03

Gonna keep this short, but this is the longest I've ever run. Adrian made me a bottle of Perpetuem to last for 4 1/2 hours, and I think it worked. I'm not sure if it was mostly mental, but I felt great at the end. Feet were tired, but the legs were moving. My fastest mile was mile 25. 26, Clemmie had a potty stop, and I think my Garmin timed it, but we were in the 9:xx's for the latter part of the run which is a nice confidence booster.

Next weekend, I'm going to work on running with my bottle again, not stopping and run at faster paces. Good day!!

10 miles easy with some tempo

Time: 5:30pm
Location: Rogue Equipment
Weather: Perfect
People: Dee, Clemmie, and I
Route: Big 10 mile circle through Austin
Comments: I'm tired, so keeping this short. Run was nice, calves felt tight, but it was my fault. I got stuck at work till the last minute and didn't have a chance to roll. We pushed the pace here and there, but with traffic, the darkness, it was hard to do 4 miles at tempo. Great conversation, good run. 10 miles down :)

5 mile Cookie Run

Dee, Lori, Linda and I met for our usual Wednesday gal run. Lori changed my original 5 mile run and it was nice. Not as many twists and turns, not as many stops wondering where my trip ticket was wrong and not as many Lori's yelling, "Aww, lawdy Foho!" It was fun though.

So we're running along... and BAM! Lori blows me a kiss, two kisses actually. First one was louder, I mean harder than the second. Then out of nowhere, BFDee sees the biggest, baddest, dog she's ever seen in all her life. OMG! I couldn't not stop laughing and yelling. And there she was... running like the dog was a chihuahua, when in fact it was the like that children's book, The Big Red Dog walked through Austin.

Good times, I love these gals... 5 miles and tons of laughs.

CV's

Time: 5:30pm
Location: Eastside Track
People: Dee, Clemmie, Ruth, Tim, and Mandi
Weather: Muggy and cool
Workout: 4 x 2000m at 15k pace
Comments: I made this entire post it note for my workout with a breakdown of my 100m, 400m, 1600m, and 2000m splits and left it on my desk at work. Argh. I also left my watch at home. I really need to get into race mode and start being better prepared. I'm really bad about planning for stuff when it comes to my running. Over the last few weeks, I've let my nutrition go down the drain and along with it I think I'm battling mental demons regarding my MGP.

We set out for the track, and without knowing my splits, I had to go off my memory. I remember the 100 were :30, the 200 were 1:01, and then I thought the 400's were 2:05, which was wrong. So we did the entire workout using that. Our four splits for the 2000's were

1) 10:25 - right on according to our wrong calculation
2) 10:10 - we thought was way too fast, but it was actually :01 slow for what our real pace should have been.
3) 10:21
4) 10:30

10:09 is what we should have been shooting for, but in all honesty, I don't think I could have gone any faster.

This was the hardest track workout by far this year. I'm not sure why. I wore my new Team Rogue outfit to try it out, and felt like Ms. Chubbers. I've gained a few pounds and it could be water weight, but I felt fat. Even Meredith has sent me a few nice and "get off your ass and do what I'm telling you" emails that I 110% needed.

So I went to the grocery store on Monday and got the right foods to eat. Adrian is going to his first meeting next week, so I'm really excited to see what she has in store for him. I would also like to plan a shopping trip to the grocery store with Meredith after the holidays. I still have no clue what I'm supposed to buy. Jelly for instance, I have no clue.

Anywho, the building I work in is having a tamale party. They're catering Pappasittos for the ENTIRE BUILDING!! I woke up, made a healthy breakfast, ate before I left the house (miracle and Meredith would be so proud) packed a lunch full of fruit and veggies and then I remembered this. Sooo, in order to curb the temptation, I've been needing to go to Dr. Fluitt for my calves for the past two weeks. I made an appt during lunch. I'll eat the sandwich I made for lunch on my way, snack on carrots and not be here while everyone is gorging on beans, rice, fajitas, and tamales.

I still have 3 weeks to get my ass in gear, and I've put too much hardwork to let it slip away in the last 3 weeks. No more eating bad. I had some sugary, delicious candy at my desk that I was snacking on all week, threw it away. I've been back to drinking sodas, no more. Water, water, water... Now that it's in writing, hopefully this will put it all out there so I can get back on track.

Run for the Water 10 miler :)

Morning started off a little hectic. I ignored the alarm clock until it said 6:10, and then I was in a full-on panic to get out the door. Morning nutrition only consisted of a half of a banana. Not to get graphic, but I'm not a "regular" person so I knew this would pose a problem during the race.



I found my Dee and Clemmie, got my kiss from my honey, and was off to the start. I parked downtown, so I had no warm up. Clemmie and I started off, and the pace felt pushed. Mile 1, 8:50. Goal was MGP, but in reality, I was just aiming to PR and stay relaxed. I didn't want to push too hard, for fear that I would leave my race here in Austin instead of taking it with me to Cali. The hills felt fine. It's so nice to be able to actually "charge" them and feel ok on the top. I passed a ton of people. Clemmie left me after mile 2. I couldn't feel the MGP, and that was my fault for not warming up. I looked for her, but she was too much for me. I'm soooo excited to have her to chase, she's good for me.



I saw Geezer running backwards on the race course and he shouted for me. I saw Mike, Tausha and Bruce and I got a couple "Kill them!!" which made me smile because the people around me looked a little startled. I felt good on the flats and downhills and my small shoes (Thanks Katie) felt back to normal. I didn't hit my MGP, and had to stop at the port o potty after mile 7. According to my Garmin, I averaged 8:57's, good enough for me. Here are my race stats...

Official Chip Time: 1:30:17 9:02/m
Garmin minus poop: 1:29 8:57/m
Age group: 39/97 top 40%
Overall: 657/1330 top 49%

Super happy. Last year and every year before I was never anywhere near close to beating 50%. This year, I'm doing it. With this time, I ran it conservatively and PR'ed by 7 minutes and 24 seconds. Not too shabby, I'm proud of myself. Good day.

As for the boyfriend, he amazes me. He went into the race with a goal of 1:15 to 1:20 and he smoked it. He ran a 1:09. He averaged a freaking 6:56/m. Crazy. I'd give anything to be as fast as Tausha or Mandi and be able to race with him. Maybe one day, maybe 2012 I'll be that fast, hahaha. Team Rogue has worked, so I can only dream what Team Rogue II will do for me, or better yet what Team Rogue III will do. He finished 2oth in his age group and 111th overall. Top 9%, wow, and all of this after a Saturday workout of 56 mile bike ride, and 4 mile run in 3:21. He trains under Brandon Marsh and he's got a crazy training schedule!! That's my boyfriend. 10 years ago, he was told he might not ever walk, and now he's a freaking freak of nature, and he's all mine :)

Shoes

So, a couple months ago, I went into Rogue to buy some shoes. I found some Mizuno's that I liked, after trying a ton of them on. My regular shoe size is a 6.5, so I always buy 7.5. I bought two pair and the last pair is just over 300 miles.

I went this past Sunday to get some more, and when I tried them on, they felt tight. Joe looked and thought it was peculiar too, so I bought 8's. I ran in them on Tuesday, and Wednesday and both runs I could feel pain in the outside of my foot and a wierd cramping pain in my calf. Not good. So I asked Ruth, and she said to wear my old shoes. I showed up last night in my old shoes and lo and behold, they felt tight too. Ruth looked at my feet while standing and could instantly notice my shoes were too small for my feet. How in the world have I been doing my entire Team Rogue training in shoes that were too small???? I'm beyond retarded. My old shoes felt comfy, yet snug. I'm freaking out a little, because it's 30 days away from the marathon and I don't have shoes that are comfortable for me. I wish I would have bought three pairs at my original visit, now I don't know what to do.

I'm going to see if Rogue will let me exchange for the smaller size since that's what my foot is used to, and will work out finding the right shoe AFTER CIM. How in the world could I be such a doof??

Ruth asked if I got hot spots, I said, "Yeah." Ruth asked if I got blisters, I said, "Yeah." She said all signs that you're shoe is too small. I just thought all runners had those problems so didnt' think anything of it.

I think my foot grew... I'm only 31, ya know... I am still growing...

4 mile tem-poop

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Travis Country
Weather: We bit chilly!
Workout: 2 mile warm up, 4 mile at HMGP, 2 mile cool down
Comments: Traffic was awful. I work at Congress and 1st and it took me almost 45 minutes to get from Mopac at 1st street down to SW Parkway, yuck! We started the run, and I had my Garmin, but like the others, I couldnt' see a darn thing when we were running. I would occasionally glance at it under a street light, but it was really useless until the end to see what we already did.

Clemmie and I took off, and immediately I could tell we were running a tad slow, but I already felt pushed, so told Clemmie to run on, and that I would chase her. Dee soon passed me within the first mile and my mission was to hang on to them. I missed the Lab workout two weekends ago so this was new territory for me. I could feel I was going slower, but couldn't get in the groove of things. I chased Dee who was chasing Clemmie for 3 miles and I was gaining ground until around mile 3. ***This might be TMI*** At mile 2, I tooted. And then I tooted again. I was wishing that Dee was by me, because she knows me better than anyone and knows I can't toot while I run. I always stop to toot, when I toot. I thought I felt better, until mile 3 and I came to a hobbling screeching halt. I had to make an emergency dash to the park. Thank goodness it was dark because I didn't make it very far into the bushes. I had to do a number 3, that's 2+1. Sorry for the details, but figured I needed to remember this for future tempo runs :)

Afterwards, I felt better and just finished my last mile. I didn't hit anywhere near my HMGP, but just chalked it up to having a not so good day. No worries.

Kinda nervous about the race this weekend, but looking forward to it.

Billy Goat Run

Time: 5:30pm
People: Lori, Dee, and I
Location: Lake Austin Blvd
Route: First few miles of the 10 miler route
Weather: Perfect
Distance: 5 miles
Comments: Dee thought it would be a good idea to run part of the race course for Sunday. We started at the Randalls and instantly started climbing up Exposition. I'd have to say the route we took was pretty hilly, so I'm glad that I'm not racing it. MGP seems a little scary, but with the down hills and the flats towards the end, I'm pretty positive about hitting it. Even if I run MGP for the 10 miles, I'll have a 10 minutes PR over my best 10 miler time. I didnt' run it in 2007, but I ran it three years in a row preceeding that. Best time was in 2005.

Hills didn't feel as bad as I was anticipating and it was a good confidence run for me from my lack of energy weeks. I could keep up with Dee and Lori with no problem and felt good about that. I started documenting my nutrition again, because I had fallen off the wagon. What started with one Halloween piece of candy snowballed into small bags of peanut M&M's again. So I'm back to making the right decisions and Meredith was 100% in the right when she told me to not screw up all my hard work in the last 30 days. She's right. I have control over what I stuff in my mouth and I need to use that to my advantage.

Looking forward to chasing Clemmie tonight :)

Tuesday Workout

Time: 5:45pm
Weather: Perfect
Location: East side track
Workout: 20 x 200's, recovery across field
People: Clemmie, Dee and I
Comments: Yikes. I missed the actual burn workout last week because of my "energy" problems. I'm back to normal, but this was a good one for me. Here are our splits. We all three ran together, which for me might have been a mistake. I'm usually very good at pacing but tonight, I could never feel the groove.

1) 56
2) 59
3) 58
4) 57
5) 55
6) 58
7) 56
8) 55
9) 59
10) 58
11) 56
12)55
13) 53
14) 58
15) 57
16) 58
17) 56
18) 54
19) 56
20) 48

My goal was 57, Dee and Clemmie were 59. We were all over the place. I'm looking forward to the 10 miler. I'm only going to run MGP for it instead of racing because I missed the lab workout. If I do just that, which I have all the confidence in the world that I can do, then I'll PR by 10 minutes. Wow!

Next up: Wednesday's Cookie run :)

Weekend Recap - What a nice one...

Saturday's run was a pretty good confidence booster for me. Not because I ran fast (22 miles at 10:35 pace), but just for the plain simple fact that I got my miles in without feeling like dog poop. Pace was on the slow end, but who cares. My coach told me my objective was to get the miles in as comfortable as I could, and that's what I did. It was soooo nice to run with Lori, Linda, Clemmie, Cheryl and Dee. Good company, good conversation. I did fall at mile 2 or 3 and banged up my knee, but I'm ok. I just need to learn to pick up my feet...



After the run, we did the commercial shoot. Fun, but I was paranoid about waiting too long to 1) eat something or take in recovery and 2) my ice bath. I'm glad I did it in the end, and super glad that when Dee fell she didn't get hurt. We are a mess together, we both fell. I went to the grocery store afterwards, then went home and proceeded to get into a cleaning frenzy which is very out of the norm for me. I normally go straight home, eat, shower, and SLEEP! Today, I had more energy, which was great. I vacuumed, swept, mopped, did a load of laundry.. then managed to take an ice bath with 10lbs of ice. I took my hot shower, got dressed and was off to my poker game.



I've been skipping my weekly poker game on Wednesday's to get my runs in. A little sacrifice, but in the end, I think it'll be worth it. The poker guys I play with give me a hard time, and every month we have a Saturday tournament, usually where the buy in is $50. They all decided that we would put on a Mini World Series of Poker, where the buy in is $100, making the pot with 30 players $3,000!!! So I was excited. Long story short, with no nap after my 22 miler, I was crashing around 5-6pm. But... I was playing awesome. Bluffing here and there, making some great calls, and even making a few reads on other players. I love poker. I made it to the final table with 5 other guys, it was midnight and I couldn't play a hand without yawning. I think the other guys were tired too, we had been playing for 10 hours. So, we all decided to split the pot. There were two no-shows, so we ended up splitting $2800 between the 6 of us. Not too bad for a Saturday of fun. I took home $470 :) The guys told me not to show up to the next game, and to go run, hahahaha!



I got to my boyfriends around 1am, and he had a special night planned. I guess he didn't think I'd last that long cause he called around 8pm asking how I was doing and I told him I was still doing pretty well so he ate dinner alone. Then I get there and there's a rose on the door, ahhhh.... then there was a dozen of them at the top of the stairs for me :) The best part, was that they were in a cycling water bottle, hahaha. Sunday, I skipped my run. We went to Rogue and I got a new pair of shoes since I'm creeping up on 300 on my current shoes. Took the dogs to the park and went on a 4 mile walk with them. Ate pizza for dinner, watched THREE movies and went to bed around 11pm. Good night, great boyfriend, awesome weekend!!

Baby Burn

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Eastside Track
People: Dee, Clemmie, Dave, Mandy, and Ruth
Weather: Cool, but definitely not cold
Workout: 1 mile MGP, 400 at 10k, 1 mile MGP
Comments: Since I've been feeling a little defeated the past week, Ruth adjusted my workout and boy, it made a huge difference. On the warm up to the track, I was having my same issues and all my mind could do was race all the what if's, should've's, and mantras. I stayed close, but was behind Dee and Clemmie as we took off to the track. Calves felt tight (my fault for not rolling), legs felt heavy... again. I kept telling myself it's mental, its mental, snap out, but kept in mind that normally it takes me 3-4 miles to warm up anyways so I needed to not look into how I was feeling yet and be over dramatic.

We get to the track and everyone is figuring out paces, when to flip around, etc. I was a little envious at Dee and Clemmie for doing the actual Burn workout, but I was relieved at the same time that Ruth had other plans for me. They took off, and I let them get about 50 meters ahead before I started. 1 mile MGP felt pushed, but thankfully I hit it, right on the dot. 8:47, PERFECT! My breathing was a little labored and I started thinking negatively, that my MGP shouldn't feel like this, and blah blah blah. Then I decided to just quit it. If this was mental, I need to fill my head with positive thoughts and so I started. The 400 meters at 10k directly proceeded the MGP, and I picked it up. It felt ok, and once I hit the 100 meter mark, I realized I was a second or two slow, but wow, I was running a sub 8:00 mile. No way in hell I could have done this on Wednesday when trying to run 10:44 was a struggle, so the positive thoughts started. I kept repeating, as corny as it sounds, "I can do this, I can do this!" Seeing Dee and Clemmie on the track helped. They reversed every 4 laps, so I was running towards them and their positive energy was felt every time I passed. I thought to myself, "They're doing it, I can do it." 1 mile back to MGP felt much better. It took me 200 meters to dial back into the rhythm, but I felt like I was back in my groove. 2nd mile at MGP was 8:41, 6 seconds too fast. Halle-freaking-liehja!!! I stopped, reported to Ruth and asked if I should repeat... and she told me no. "Really?? I feel better, I think I can do that again..." Ruth said, "Nope, you're done." "Alrighty then... I did it." It was a little wierd being done so early before everyone else, I'm soooo used to be the last one, especially on track workouts. So I hung out with Ruth while Dee and Clemmie finished.

They did AWESOME!! So inspiring to see friends do well. They completed 8 miles of the actual Burn workout, and would have done the full 10, but Dee had to get back for a call. I'm so proud of them. It's amazing how much I feed off other people's success, I hope this is a good thing. When Clemmie and Dee do well, it makes me happy and I want to be right there with them :)

Good job, guys! I heard all the southies rocked it. I'm looking forward to Saturday's run, no longer scared. I started taking my Iron pills, sleep will no longer be an issue (gonna make sure I let my body rest) and I've got the mental demons slayed. This is my race and I've worked too hard to become a whining baby. I've got this!!

I'm TOUGH!

In the mornings I listen to the Bobby Bones Show. Yes, I'm that wanna be teen that listens to goofy teeny bopper morning shows, I also watch reality MTV still. Anyone watch the season finale of The Island :) Anyways, a caller called in and was asking for advice about a bad breakup. Bobby Bones told her...

"Tough times don't last, but tough people do."

I like that quote, especially now when I'm struggling with my running. I'm tough, I'll make it through this rut, no matter what :)

Caught in a rut

Time: 6:00pm
Location: ART on Anderson
People: Cookies - Dee, Lori, Linda and I
Weather: Chilly, but not cold
Comments: I had some car problems yesterday, so left work and went to pick up my car. The sweet boyfriend let me drive his big ole' Xterra, and I had forgotten my parking garage card, so I picked that up. I am proud to say I talked myself out of having the pay the $18 my parking garage charges, when parked all day, since I already pay an arm and a leg monthly. Whew!

I picked up my keys, and got to the workout pretty early, around 5:15 so went to the Weight Watchers meeting. My current goal weight is, what am I thinking... I'm not posting that! At my lightest, I was two pounds under. I have found over the months, I just don't have the discipline to stay there. I toggle back and forth like every woman does and have come to terms that unless I put in more hard work, I'm just not going to get those rock hard abs like Lori has :) I weighed in a 3 pounds over my goal weight. Not bad, but should probably lose a pound, maybe 1.5 by the marathon for my mental being. Thank goodness the team outfits are black, maybe they'll make me look 1.5 pounds lighter :)

The run started, and of course we were gabbing away. When we first started, I thought to myself... this is too slow, we need to pick it up. 10 seconds later, I was thinking, "Wow, this feels pushed." I kept up, but mostly ran the entire run about 5-10 feet behind them. I don't mind and have never minded being the caboose. Sometimes I enjoy it, cause it pushes me. This past week, it's starting to create some mental havoc and I need to figure out what the heck is going on. I stayed within range until we hit mile 5 and I gave up trying to push and tried to run what I felt was relaxed, but the slower I ran didn't seem to make it any easier.

My mind started racing. How in the world could I be on top of the world two weeks ago at IBM and now I'm struggling to do an easy run that I would have done in my sleep previously. I started doing a checklist of all the things I've changed. I'm not going to lie, but the getting back together with the boyfriend has been beyond wonderful, but I'm the first to admit, it's thrown me off my routine. Tonight for instance, I was exhausted when I got home and ended up falling asleep before 9. I probably should have stayed asleep, but I woke up briefly to make the daily, "How was your day, Dear?" phone call and now it's almost 11pm and I'm still awake.

So here's my list of things that I can think of that have slightly changed, that I might revert back to.

1) Addition of boyfriend - Catch 22 situation, but I need to make sure I don't hinder my sleep. I'm a sleeper. I need to not skip my usual naps and make sure I'm getting what I consider normal (friends might consider too much) sleep.

2) I quit journaling my food intake - I was doing so good at writing down EVERYTHING I ate for Meredith, and for some reason I got into the, "I know how to do this." mode and this week have caught myself eating a chocolate piece here, one there, instead of making the healthy decision. My nutrition could also be a source of my lack of energy.

3) I quit poker on Wednesday's to stay dedicated to the training - maybe I need to play more poker?? (Although, out of all of these, I doubt this is a cause, but it would be nice to think it was!)

I've been dying to go to Sisson's office hours the past two weeks, and now I need to make sure I go on Monday and if he's not having them on Monday, I need to be late or start my workout early on Tuesday to go. Two weeks of feeling like this, and it's starting to mess with me mentally. I can't possibly be breaking down a month away from the marathon I've put my heart and soul into. I need to figure it out NOW! Am I too tired, because I peaked at a stupid 10k?? Was I getting sick, and I fought it off, but I might still have some residuals?? Does it really take this long to recover when you push as hard as I pushed at IBM?? How in the hell do I get it back???

Tomorrow's workout on the track should be interesting.

No Stratford, bummer... NOT!

Time: 6:00pm
Location: The Rock
Workout: 2 loops of NOT Stratford :) Robert E Lee, Barton Hills and some other streets I can't remember the names of
People: Ruth's Group, ran with Clemmie and Dee
Weather: Uh... cold!
Comments: So it was my first workout back from having three days off from no exercise and four days off from not running. And what a day I decided to come back to!! Ruth decided that doing Stratford at 6pm was too dangerous due to the traffic so we had an altered route, yay!! I learned a ton today and had a great run. Before the workout started, we were told to attack the hills, relax on the downhills. Interesting.. different from what I've known in the past. I'm always up for trying new things to make me a better runner. We take off and almost immediately Clemmie is in the lead, with Dee following and me in the back. Wow, we're running FAST! The last moment before I let Dee go, I asked her to check her Garmin... she said 8:48, wow, that's my MGP! I let her go and try my hardest without having to struggle too much to keep up. I keep my eye on her. It's amazing how much Dee motivates me and how Clemmie motivates her. It was the perfect train. The BSSW have the 3:10 train and I'd say after today, we have a 3:59 train :)

2nd loop was interesting cause we tried a different climbing technique and I loved it. Felt more natural and I think I actually like charging hills :) Good workout. Dee's overall pace was a 9:21 (YAY, Dee!!!) so I probably averaged 9:30's... good workout. Loved the route, loved the flags that showed the way, loved everything about the workout.

Looking forward to tomorrow's girl run with the Cookies :) Let's see if they leave me in charge of another run, hehehe.

Sunday and Monday Recap

Sunday, I slept in till about 8:30am. Adrian started to immediately do yard work and I was going to meet Sabrina and Matt at T3 for an information session about the Couer d'Alene training that starts in January. Good stuff, but in all honesty, my mind is still in marathon mode. By Sunday, it had been 3 full days of not running and I was feeling extremely guilty for this. Sabrina, Amber and I went for a bike ride. We only went 20 miles and the wind was brutal. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I say it was, but for someone that doesn't like the bike already it felt defeating.

I felt ok, but afterwards I was extremely exhausted again. I stopped by the grocery store and got some things for dinner and Adrian cooked up some yummies! We had steak, some potatoes, fresh broccoli, grilled corn on the cob, and he had a salad. We watched a movie and we were in bed by 10pm. It felt like a long day, but I really didn't do that much.

Monday morning, I woke up, and still felt tired, so I called into work and told them I'd be in after lunch. I passed out! I was asleep until 10am. I've been drinking hot tea all day and coughing up phlegm (yummy) and feel alot better today. I don't have any "real" symptoms other than feeling 100% fatigued along with a headache that won't seem to go away. My throat has been sore over the weekend, but I think the worst is over. I'm planning to do the Tuesday workout and suck it up. Too close to Cali to start slacking now. I think the run will do me some good.

Workout for Tuesday calls for "loops of Stratford", lovely. Should be fun, kinda nervous where this loop ends on Stratford.

OFF Days

Thursday - I took off. I got stuck at work, it was one of those crazy, crazy workdays and I ended up working an 11 hour day trying to get some proposals out for a morning meeting. I also decided that the extra day off would do my legs good since they were still feeling crappy. I also think I'm starting to come down with a cold or something. Extra day off.

Friday - Already an OFF day, but I was tired all day again. I went to bed the night before at 8pm, slept the entire night and was at work at 7:30am. Got two big insurance proposals out, found out we got both accounts :) Yay!!! I still wasn't feeling 100% so I'm on the fence about running tomorrow's run. My ego tells me that I haven't missed a long run since Team Rogue started, why now?? Other part, thank you Dee, says that I need to look at the bigger picture. I think my body is telling me that I need the rest. I'm going to bed here soon and depending on how I feel at 4:30am, I'll make my decision. I'm leaning towards taking another day off, but not sure if my ego will let me. I might just show up and try. I can do the 4 mile warm up, do 1-2 loops at easy pace if I'm not feeling it and head back. We'll see. Or I might take the responsible route and let my body rest. Ugh...