Skipped my DRC training run this morning to run the Too Hot To Handle 15K. Above is the odd color shirt they chose to give this year

I was happy with my time placing 13th in my AG with a 1:20:03. This was a lot better than I expected and funny enough within seconds of my time from 2006 (the last time I ran this race). There is something to be said for being consistent, but I really hope to start improving my race times this year instead of just matching them over and over.

I tried out my new Nike+ Sport band on this run too and it did pretty well. Measured the course a little long at 9.62miles so I still need to calibrate and it really messed my pace up at the downhill coming off the spillway, but besides that it worked well.

Other highlights were post race beer that didn’t taste like beer and winning a cute amphipod water belt that I will probably use if we ever get out for a trail run at Grapevine this year.

Promised myself that I would run after dinner tonight and I am so glad I did. Took off a bit after 7 to run my 4 mile route and noticed clouds rolling in. Nice cool breeze for most of the run and then it began to rain for the last mile….so since I was already wet and it was a nice night I decided to add a mile. Very nice run for July in Texas
I also daringly wore my running skirt. After reading the article in Runner’s World this month I thought I would give it another try. The only other time I have worn it is for a March 5K and I was quite uncomfortable. Still weird and kind of way more girly than I am to be running in a skirt, but it was cool and comfy so I may throw it into my regular rotation
Hope everyone had a great 4th. We watched fireworks from our hot tub which was very nice! Nothing else notable, just some home and garden work….hmm…that sounds girly too

Today is anniversary #11 for me and hubby.

Yes, we are old for anyone keeping track.

Ok, so I thought since I am giving myself free time today as a gift that I would blog. I headed down to White Rock bright and early for the DRC Bloomin’ 4 mile race. Sticky day, but I did ok all things considered. Ended up with 3rd in my AG with a 32:23 I think it said. They had some duplicate bib confusion so the results were not annouced until 10. By then most people were gone so they were pretty generous with the prizes. I just wanted the flower which now I need to find a place to plant!

Let’s see besides that I have been doing a little yard work trying to get the flower beds presentable.

Still working on this one:

Hubby has purchased a weather station…below is the John Deere Pool sensor So now we will be able to check the weather at our house online…weird.

Hubby also purchased 3 trees all live oak to try and bring in a little more shade to the yard

That’s about all of the news. Going to try to get hubby out to dinner tonight I have these cute shoes that I got in Nashville that I have been dying to wear. Well, I did wear them to the grocery store in Nash, but I hardly think that counts.

Wish me luck!

There we are the Ogden Street girls from PY NY after a very tough and hilly Country Music Marathon in Nashville.
Despite the hilly and somewhat repetitive course this was one of my favorite marathons Beth mentioned doing the half back in November I think and I promptly invited myself to join her!

I got there on Thursday morning and my first meal in Nashville was a HUGE breakfast at Cracker Barrel We had such a nice afternoon touring the expo and downtown Nashville where we (ok mostly me) couldn’t resist settling in for an afternoon beer and some live music

It was interesting and sort of unsettling how great the musicians were considering they were working off tips and not some huge mega stars

I bought the most fabulous hat EVA with hopes of wearing it while running, but it didn’t really fit snug enough so we just had fun making everyone where it around the house.

I should mention that Beth’s Aunt and Uncle were gracious enough to let me stay at their house and cook the most awesome pre race pasta dinner I have ever had!! Thanks Cindy

Friday we did more site seeing at the Grand Ole Opry where we picked up some awesome Hee Haw souveniers

All in all, I ate some fried gizzards, listened to much music, got to see my 2nd family (Beth’s that is) and ran a great race too.

Here are the pictures of us in action ME and Beth
The course was basically 3 out and backs for the marathon and it was quite hilly. I found some company along the course. I ran with a girl, Renea, from CA that is doing all of the Rock and Roll races. She was pretty fun to talk with, but we lost each other around mile 22.

Well I think that is about it besides these 2 pics of Beth and I after the race and later in the day enjoying MUCH food

So much fun, thanks again, Beth for organizing a great adventure…Houston is next

For SirQ and those interested in the stats: total time =3:55:41
Splits
Mile Time
1 8:31.77
2 9:06.47
3 9:03.07
4 8:45.36
5 8:23.04
6 8:33.22
7 9:19.83
8 8:50.33
9 8:33.81
10 8:27.94
11 8:51.21
12 9:13.11
13 8:46.28
14 8:52.24
15 8:40.45
16 8:46.53
17 9:08.22
18 9:11.79
19 9:11.15
20 9:10.62
21 8:59.6
22 9:04.55
23 9:26.5
24 9:50.81
25 9:59.39
26.2 9:28.4 ish…I am bad at stopping the watch

Ok, after stating that Nashville was marathon #9 for me I got some disagreement from those that know better So here is the question. I fell at the mile 26 marker of Austin 2005 and was wheeled the .2miles to the finish….where I do have an official time. So….does this one count or does it not? I am undecided…you tell me

Should 2005 Austin Marathon that I only completed 26 miles of my own free will count?

Sure, why not

0

Absolutely not are you trying to cheat

1

Who cares

2

Sign in to vote

Since I got to work at 7:30 this morning I decided to leave around 4 which gave me some extra day light time I resolved that with this daylight I would run to the CVS to pick up a prescription instead of drive. Worked out well…about a 4.5mile route and then I came home all red and poured myself a pom martini cooler in one of those cute hypnotic glasses compliments of the Freeman fam
Check out my super huge…gosh I feel fat running shorts

I have only been running about a 10miler on Weds and then a long run on Saturday for the last many many weeks. I am happy to report that I was just getting warmed up in mile 3 tonight and was kind of disapointed to be done running so soon. Yay for progress….even if I don’t ever REALLY follow the program One day maybe….then I will be BLAZING fast

Yes, today was the last really long run before the Nashville marathon. We met at 6:45 to do 20 miles. It was really strange. I was dragging for most of the run, but finished pretty strong. We run down to the AA center and channel 8 stopped us and asked us to back up and run by so they could put us on the news So we spent a couple of minutes doing that. Then we saw the Tour of Dallas bike event take off with more bicyclist than I have ever seen in one spot. Finished up at the dog park, talked to the other girls running Nash to find out what corral they were in and then left and treated myself to a white choc mocha at Starbucks on the way home That’s another interesting highlight…Starbucks had 6 cars in the drive thru waiting. I walked in and got my drink in about 2min…boy are we a lazy society

That sums up the run highlights.

Then I came home, hubby loaded up the truck with junk and I drove to the dump If you have never been I highly recommend it. They gave me a hardhat and safety vest and then told me to drive down the road until I saw the big junk pile and then back in and drop the junk on the ground. I was up on the truck throwing stuff with my hard hat on, wish I had captured it on a cam One of the workers came over and told me not to worry about pitching it so far….said you can just drop it and we bull doze it. Then he came over later to have a conversation about bird bombs….lol
Only down side to the dump is that or course it is pretty stinky and it is kind of sad to see so much waste that we make all piled up in one spot.

Then I came home, went in the pool as sort of an ice bath for my muscles. The pool is 66 so not really ice, but I think it helped. Cleaned up the pool, shower, dinner and now I am finally taking a break….and might fall asleep while typing this

Hey everyone! I have been slacking on my Blog lately, but since I have about a month until my next marathon (Nashville Country Music Marathon with Beth) and tend to run low on ambition I know I am going to need to document some of my training to hold myself accountable

Since I last wrote I have been training with the DRC group twice a week, but that’s about it. I have not been faithful in getting my mid week mileage in The last couple of weeks it has been ~10run on Weds and a long run on the weekend. Saturday was an 18. I usually do those runs with 2 loops around white rock lake, but this time I met with the DRC group and it was really neat. We started by Mockingbird and 75 (we ran by Gizmo’s tattoo and I couldn’t help but think of the girls ) and then ran down Swiss and sort of through Downtown, through the West End, around American Airlines center and then back up the Katy trail. I never think about the actual distance I am covering when I run the lake, but running all those places that take me 20min to drive to was really neat…made it feel like more of an accomplishment. We went by a couple of dart rail stations and near one a guy was trying to be funny and started running with another girl and I saying he did track and he was going to run with us . He stopped after a block and I looked back and said hey come on you have 7 more miles to do…he laughed and waved. So there you go. I am back to running some longer distances and really enjoying it, but the temptation to not get up at 5:30AM on Saturday is HUGE

Can’t wait to see you in Nashville and share another race experience, Beth

In other news,,,,while I have been slacking.
Beth came to visit, I got to meet Justin, and she met some of the gang! I thought we were close to getting her down to TX, but lovely Rochester has a hold on her

Beth got ink at our fav tatt place and it came out awesome! Monay and Linda…who’s next?

Then there was the infamous St Pats day parade. I didn’t do the race because I needed a longer than 5K run. Linda planned the parking arrangements and I think everyone had a great time! Here’s a pic of the usual suspects

Now you’re all caught up Hope everyone is having a fantastic Easter

I decided to reach outside of my circle and run the Cowtown Half with my DRC running group. We met at the unGodly hour of 5:30 to carpool over to Fort Worth from Dallas. I ended up riding with one of the pace guys who was planning on running a 1:45 so we decided to start together. It turned out to be alot colder than I anticipated so I was really shivering in the tshirt and shorts

We ran 8 min pace for the first 7 miles and then he started to pick up and ended up with a PR at~1:42. I continued with ~8min pace until mile the last 2 miles where the hills really got me. I was happy with my time and am encouraged about the possibility of doing well at the Country Music Marathon in April. Here is where I ended up:

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	1:47:48
Chip Time	1:47:39
Overall Place	303
Gender Place	61
Division Place	9
Age Grade	61.5%
Total Pace	8:13/M

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be sort of back into a running routine

Our new kitten has grown and gained over a pound since we got her. She got over her resp infection and fleas and then came down with Ring Worm which we have been fighting for a bit. The vet has us giving her a couple of baths a week.

She is less than thrilled, but getting much better. Our other female cat Scampi seems to like her ok

But the male cat is still sort of scared of her

In other news….I am still celebrating the Giants super bowl win Nice to win it all on a year that I thought the team needed some help….very nice surprise.

I’ve also been training for a marathon….I know….weird…I should be able to keep doing them without any training

Anyhow, I guess it has been about 4 weeks of training with the DRC and I am really enjoying it. Just getting ready to book my flight and sign up for the Nashville Country Music Marathon . I’ll be meeting my friend Beth who will be doing the half! Can not wait….even though I really hate country music…maybe the sound will make me run faster

Hope you all are doing well!