With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

cooler morning- 75 degrees but lots of huimidity. avg pace 9:22.  I had to borrow MR's garmin since my battery was dead.  I didn't get splits, but I'm happy with the pace.

ran around Wyatt's hood in the am, short bike ride with MR is the pm

ran around my hood this am with Wyatt.  less humid and it felt nicer than it has in the morning in a long time.

shoveled mulch for an hour- cross training :-)

early run by myself.  I wanted to run around 8, but just after mile 6 my knee popped a couple of times so I stopped running & walked.  While I was walking, I noticed this guy right on my path.  I'm wondering if I would have noticed him if I was running (I'm not always paying attention). It might be hard to see, but he's a copperhead.  MR said it looks like he just ate, so that's probably why he just hung out there & didn't bother with me.  I stayed far away anyway.

26 miles on the bike.  I rode at a pace that was a real workout for me for 1 hour.  It ended up only being 16 miles per hour.  I have no idea how Brent goes 24mph for 1 hour.  In my defense, I'm not riding a road bike.  But I did get a good workout.  After the first hour, I slowed down and enjoyed the rest of the ride home.  It took me 50 minutes to ride the next 10 miles home, but I got to see lots of pretty crops growing, the cows, the horses, and got lost for a little while on a dirt road that I thought was a short cut.

Here's some pix I took along the way:

1- one less dog to chase me on the roads...poor fella

2- morning glory growing along the corn stalks

3-Cotton flower blooming

4-sorghum plants (it's grown for a sweetner that's like molasses...kind of). It's really only about 3 feet tall.

32.6 miles on the bike with MR.  Pace was slower than yesterday, but it was for 2 hrs 22 minutes total riding time.  My avg pace was around 14 mph.  We explored new roads and found out where some roads went that we'd passed by before.  Rode by a farm stand selling peaches, and I almost stopped to get one to eat.  I wish I would have; I'll be those peaches were delicious!

We saw a giant moth at the ghetto gas station we stopped to get water at (yes, those are bars on the windows).

We found a treasure as well, but it was the kind of treasure you leave behind and just take photos of for proof.  I shall call her Soysan, after the soy bean field we found her in....too bad it wasn't a cabbage field!

There was a can of yellow paint next to her, and an old oriental looking rug.  I'm sure there's a good story there.  Any ideas?

30 minute elliptical in the am.  2 mile walk through the hood with MR & Terri in the pm.  It was still wicked hot, and I found some nice sprinklers to run through.  I still had my dress on- we all thought it would have been great if I'd been wearing my combat boots too.  Ah, an idea for another day...

dead frog run- 6 miles with Terri.  Wonderful, wild, wet run. Wonderful because of the company, Wild because of Mr Toad's Wild Ride that didn't end so well, and wet because I was sweating so much!!

Anyone need some new uppers for their nikes?  I found these during one of our little "walk breaks" today.  We surely needed them due to the humid heat sauna.

Went with Terri to run the trails on base this morning.  It was less humid, and we had nice shade from the trees most of the time. 

4 miles slow & easy with Wyatt & MR.  we walked over a mile with warm up/cool down.  I came home & did Shred level 2.  I am sure my arms will be sore tomorrow, just in time to help little buccaneer move into his dorm.  

45 minute elliptical. nice company on the phone with RAD.  She's always got good stories to make the time fly by.

Wyatt and I went out for our long run this morning.  It was considerably cooler and we had a little breeze to make it even nicer.  I put water out at mile 6.5, and we stopped to fill up, but we would have been okay without it.  

It really convinced me that the heat does make running more difficult, because it was so easy today.

I took my bike out to pick up the waterbottles after we got back, so I had a 9 mile bike ride too.  I tried riding fast to keep my heart rate up & my muscles moving.  Not sure what my bike pace was, but it felt like 100% effort.

MR and I went out for a bike ride after sleeping in...yea!!!  We weren't out for long when we saw a little critter in the cotton fields.

A puppy tent!  We rescued him and he's safe in our garage now.  There wasn't a home within a mile or more, so we didn't feel bad about rescuing him. We also rescued a big brown spider living in him...but had to leave him at the sanctuary we ended up at later in our ride.

MR also spotted a nice place to get his photo taken. His quote for the photo was, "King of the Castle" in his best Borat voice.  No treasures to take home from this stop except the photo.

We were out maybe 12 miles from home, and the heavens opened up and poured rain on us.  It was neat watching the sheets of rain blow across the fields, but after a mile or so, we were drenched and the rain wasn't letting up.  If you've never been in a southern downpour, it's not like any other kind of rain storm around.  We saw a church and took a little break in the covered driveway they had.

 That's where we found the spider stow-away and left him behind.  After 20 minutes and 1/2 a bag of gummy worms, the rain let up a little and we headed home.  It was the first time we'd been caught in a rainstorm on our bikes.  Other than the unpleasant wet-seat problem, it wasn't too bad.  It was actually kind of fun in a "trying something new" kind of a way.

Then we got home and made peach jam with our little buccaneer.  Tasty-tasty.

My shoes from Saturday's rain storm are still wet!  I'm not sure they'll ever get dry.

It was a lovely morning with much cooler air than normal this time of year.  I ran & MR rode along as the waterboy/company.  We didn't even get one house away when we saw this:

Kool-aid opposum strikes again!  He's really just a young one too.  Not 1/2 as big as the one in almost the same spot this spring . I  took the photo mostly for bye-wing.  Hope she's back on the blog today.

We took the shady route and I tried to keep the pace up.  Wasn't really sure I could do it, but I managed a 9:04 average pace, and I was thrilled.  Progressive except for one mile.  First was a 9:22 and the last was an 8:27 (for the .85).

There's a little town I ran through...here's the sign:

Can anyone beat a "population 11" sign?  Sad thing is, of those 11, I know that one of them is 
on the national sex offenders registry.  Luckily the town is only 1/2 a mile long & I can run by quickly.

Jillian shred level 2 and 20 minutes running on the beach.  Then I floated in the water and watched for sharks.  I swear I saw one! MR saw it too.  At first I thought it was a man snorkeling, but then I realized it was a fin, not a snorkel, and then there was another fin at the end of the man.... aaagggghhhh.  Shark week will do that to you....even 2 weeks later.

Last day of freedom.  Back to work tomorrow.  Back to the headlamp and reflective vest.  Hopefully it'll be cooler at 4:30 in the morning :-)

It IS cooler at 5 am than it is at 7!!  I really enjoyed the run this morning and was pleased to see the moon up to greet me as I headed out the door.

Avg pace was 9:11.  I am so happy to see paces under 10mm. 

I didn't see anything dead (or alive) on the road.  One dumb dog that barks a lot but so far seems harmless. But I did get to see a beautiful light show with the sun starting to light up the sky.  Pretty reds & oranges.  Nice back to work treat.  

Morning time, how precious.... I got to see a snake today.  Squished on the road right where I was running. I'm glad the car found him first. I just ran..slow at first, then faster.  It was progressive.  Avg pace was 9:22.  Not my best for the week, but I'm not complaining.  I'm just glad it's under 10 and my knee is behaving.

Stopped to stretch my quads (for the knee) 1/2 way through and saw a sign (photo will be posted later)... it says " Best Price On Doublewide homes!  910-4248600 0 (zero) deposit."

p90x core synergestics... it's been a while since I've done this, and it was really tough.  I guess I needed it.

On the sad, sad news front; the 24 hour ultra I've been looking forward to for 11 months sold out before I got a chance to register.  I just want to cry, throw a fit, and scream until I get a spot.  I may need to resort to pirate activities, like stealing other people's entries.  The thing that really makes me mad is that there are lots of people who sign up and only walk for an hour, then stop.  Why do they get my spot?  Why, why why??????  Maybe i can talk them into giving me the other 23 hours?

10 marvelous miles with Wyatt & the WaterBoy.  Pace was slow, but I've read that's what we are supposed to do when we go on long runs.  Usually I'd say 10 miles isn't all that long, but for the last few months, it's the longest I've gone. 

Nice run, nice weather. 

Ran around the hood today.  Listened to the frogs croak in the dark.  Saw 2 cats run across a yard, and saw 2 other runners out.  That really took me by surprise.  Not used to seeing anyone else out on my morning run.

avg pace 9:37.  Just a little slower than what I'd wanted, but it was tough this morning.

45 minutes on elliptical

shred level 2

Supposed to do speedwork today, but my first mate showed up for duty, so I went with him for a regular run.

Best part of the run was that the road was just re-paved the day before.  I have always hated the stop-light run because the road was so gnarly.  And now it's so pretty and flat and smooth.  I actually got to look around and enjoy the dark instead of focusing on which way my ankle was going to twist.  It's Christmas in  August!!!  Not even any lines on the road yet.. just beautiful black road.

6 miles with MR, 1 mile alone after we got home.  avg pace 9:36.

Speed work today.  Mercy me, it's been a while.  I didn't have my garmin set to give me slow down/speed up warnings, I just figured it would take everything I had to make three 8:30 miles out of 7. 

So I did one mile warm up, and then ran as fast as I could, trying to get an 8:30.  I felt like I was going to barf, but I finally finished the first fast mile, and my pace was a 7:32.  Well, that's a nice surprise.  My recovery 800 was slow- I was spent!  Then I stopped & stretched my quads and set my watch to keep me between a 9 and 8 pace.  The next speed mile was a cake walk compared to the first.  8:17 avg pace.  Then another recover, then a 8:08 mile.  Then I had a nice long recovery/cool down. 

First Day of school today.  Saw some little kids waiting in the early dawn light for the bus.  Cute little critters.  Speaking of critters, there were bats circling me as I finished my last speed mile.  I saw one fly across my headlight, and thought it was pretty neat to see a bat so close to me, and then it happened again.  I guess I was starting to smell like rotten fruit or something.

spent all morning making evacuation plans for the hurricane.  Nah, just kidding- we're 2 hours inland.. just rain & some strong winds for us.  I just slept in & had a rest day.  I did do some ball crunches if that counts.

Since we'd never gone to prom before, we thought this run would be the perfect opportunity to dress up in our prom clothes and go "out" together.  I've heard about people who get dirty at prom, but I don't think this is what they had in mind!

MR was the prom king.  He'd gone shopping & found my prom dress at the thrift store for $6.  I teased my hair & "bumped" it myself :-)  The pearls I found on the ground as we were walking to pick up our packet.  They were really trashed & the strand was broken, but I put it together like gus-gus & jacque from Cinderella!  I wore my pretty dangly earrings (some lady asked me if I was afraid of running with my earrings on.  I was wearing a prom dress and she was concerned about my earrings????)

MR also bought himself a fabulous plastic boutineer and made a little black & white floral wrist corsage for me to wear too.  He thought of everything!

I had to alter the dress a little and gather up the sides of the bottom.  The wind is blowing in the photo (hurricane byproduct)and it looks funny, but it actually looked nice considering it had been altered by me.

We got off to a good start, but it wasn't long before that wool & cotton suit got MR overheated, and then the obstacles came and kicked my trash.  Over4 foot metal barriers, then under wooden fences, over & under, over & under...I thought it would never end!  Between me being slow on the obstacles and MR overheating & needing to walk, we had plenty of time to enjoy the course and take our time.  Cargo nets, crawling in black-out conditions in the dirt, climbing up 20 foot walls, cargo nets, tire straddles, wading through a river & climbing over logs, jumping over fire and low crawling in the mud under barbed wire.  It was lots of fun, and wearing a dress & suit made it "extra special."

Here's the after "kiss."

We rock.  It was the BEST prom ever!!!

45 min elliptical

ab ripper x

Seminary is tripping me up. MR was doing airborne ops this am & couldn't help drive.

I had time to run 4.25 miles, then drove to church, ran the other 3 at the park near the church, then drove home & got ready for work.  Everything was rushed.  Good day for speed work I guess.  

warm up, 3 miles speed (8:29, 8:29, 8:22).  Then when I got to the park, I had to warm up again (I tried starting fast & it my knee wasn't on board).  So another slow mile (10:10) then a fast mile (8:02) then a cool down.  Avg pace was an 8:44.