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

Garmin battery died just as I was leaving the driveway.  So I just got to run.  Felt good.  A few little knee-twangs, but it didn't stop me at all.  I think I may just need to get back on the strength training physical therapy bandwagon.  I just don't like having to do it in the mornings before I run because I have to wake up 20 minutes earlier, and at this point I refuse to wake up earlier than 4:30.

So maybe I can remember to do my training stuff in the evenings. 

It was cool outside this morning.  My coldest morning out yet.  I had my jacket on w/o the sleeves and with gloves on.  The perfect warm-enough combination except for my thumb that was on the outside of my water-bottle carrying hand.  It froze out there in the cold all by itself. 39-40 degrees, 80% humidity.

If anger could kill, I would have a dead dog on my hands today.  I get so tired of the same dog running out into the road after me every day.  I yell at it, and it stops, but then when I turn back and keep running, it runs after me again.  My pepper spray is out of juice.  I wish the people would just keep the dog in their yard.  Why do you let your dog run loose when you live on a 55 mph road?  Invisible fence, or something.  Maybe I should focus my anger on the owners and see if that gets me any results.  They were outside today and heard me yelling "NO!" at their dog.  They were whistling for him to come back.  Whistling...really?????

Glad the run went well.  Wish Monday could be over already.

p90x legs & back.  I don't have a pull up bar (and I'm not strong enough to use one) so I just do arms/back with free weights.  So it's not really legs & back, but legs & arms. 

Just want to strengthen my legs for happy knees.

walk in the morning

6.8 with MR

6 with Wyatt

6.4 alone with MR on the bike

walked 2 miles after to cool down

9:51 avg pace

bike ride around the hood to work the leg muscles so they aren't so sore

Running felt good this morning.  I was pleased that they weren't sore from Saturday's run.

I decided to do my speed today since I felt so good.  1 mile warm up, then progressive from 9:17-8:?? (can't remember).  Avg pace 8:56.

50 minutes on elliptical and ab ripper x.

I got to use my new workout room today.  MR worked on it all day yesterday during his holdiay off work.  He's a good guy, no matter what they say about him.

slower & easier than the other days this week.  avg pace 9:45.  So far, no dogs chasing me yet this week.  I've purposely avoided the 2 sections I know are high dog run-ins.  But it makes me mad that I'm having to miss out on good running paths because of the dogs.  I'm getting an air horn at the dollar store this week-end.  

I hope it's loud enough to wake up people that let their dogs run out after me in the road.  I might start running extra early just to make sure I wake them up at a bad time.

ab ripper x at home after the run.  Abs still sore from Tuesday's ab ripper.  Made it nearly impossible to do some of the moves, but I still tried and gave it 100% effort.

walked around the hood for 1 mile after dinner to enjoy the cool air.  The morning was warm & humid again.  Hope Saturday is good for running.  Cool & Dry are on my wish list.

40 minutes of brisk walk in the park in the am.  slept in- have a 20 tomorrow. letting the legs rest up today.  and eating cupcakes & pie. 

Wasn't sure how this was going to work, but I took a last minute invitation for a family retreat week-end at Busch Gardens.  Both buccaneers went with us, and the oldest one drove them in a separate car so they'd be able to have a little freedom.  It was worth the extra gas $.

MR & I had mandatory training to attend from 9-11, then we had Busch Gardens tickets, and I had 20 miles to run.  I almost didn't go- it seemed logistically impossible - but I decided it was too good to pass up.

I went to the hotel gym at 630 when it opened and got 8.5 miles in on the treadmill.  I don't know the avg pace.  I warmed up for .2 miles, ran between 6 and 6.4 mph for the 8.5 miles, and cooled down for a few minutes.

Then we had breakfast and the training.  We took the kids to Busch Gardens, got everyone passes, and then left the kids to their own devices while we went back to the hotel for our run.  It was 75 degrees and sunny but a super nice cool breeze made it wonderful weather to run in.  And it was an awesome run. 

We ran from our hotel down past the sheep pasture through William & Mary College, past downtown shops, stopped by the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for water and potty break, then ran through Colonial Williamsburg.  It was so neat running along the cobblestone sidewalks, oyster shell pathways, and dirt roads. 

Walked around Williamsburg. It's a magical kind of place. I got to see lambs and horses. I missed out on the chickens and devon oxen...those are my favorites.

What I didn't miss out on was the delicious ginger cookies, pretzel rolls, and root beer.

Long ride home.

My legs felt good for a Monday morning after running 20 on Saturday.

I didn't run fast today. Just ran what felt good.

p90x ab ripper x

Jillian's Shred level 1

20 minutes on the elliptical

cross training day.

I also got to dust off my dancing feet and did 30 minutes or so with MR on the Wii Just Dance II. Good times.

DID

NOT

WANT

TO

RUN

TODAY

It rained all night, and was raining in the morning. I slept in till the very last possible minute I could, then I had to drag out all the rain gear & put in my contacts. I could hear the rain coming down while I was getting ready and I was dreading squishy feet. Of course the rain stopped just after I'd started running.

Got out to run and my garmin died on me. It was supposed to be my speedwork day. I was in no mood to do speedwork, and with my garmin off, I decided there wasn't much use in bothering to try.

Started running, and after a mile I decided I'd just run fartleks in the cul-de-sacs and run regular pace on the straight-aways. I forgot a couple of time to go fast, but finally finished. Around mile 6 I was finally warmed up and felt like running.

Out earlier than usual. Nice chilly morning. The wind was strong going out, and I was glad I'd worn my jacket. Coming home, it was at my back and I got hot. But not hot enough to take off the jacket.

It was awesome being out on a clear dark morning with 1/2 the moon up and all the stars. There weren't many cars at all, so I ended up turning my headlamp on the red light setting and enjoyed the darkness. I noticed the big/little dipper up in the sky. It was standing up on the end of it's handle, and the bottom of the handle was pointing the way home.

Plus there was a hollowed out dog ribcage with the head attached on the side of the road. It's been a while since I saw some good road-kill.

Pretty cool run.

I wasn't in love with the idea of running 20 miles for my long run 2 weeks before show time, so I adjusted my running plan.  I decided to run 20 again today and start the tapering next week.  My goal for this run was to run the 20 without any stops.  I've had potty break/water break/etc stops on all my other long runs, and I wanted to see if I could run the distance without stopping.

I was happy that I was able to pull it off.  The weather was chilly in the beginning, and around mile 12 I had to take the sleeves off my jacket.  I ran in place for 12 seconds while MR helped zip them off the jacket.  I'm not counting that as a stop even though I did stop my watch.  I love the windbreaker jacket with removable sleeves.  I bought it at an expo 1.5 years ago, and have enjoyed having it ever since.  I'd recommend one to any outdoor runner.  And as an added bonus, if you happen to be collecting things as you run, it will hold  up to11 reflective road bumps that have been shoveled off the road with an ice plow and are waiting for a new home in your treasure box. 

MR rode along as my waterboy the whole way.  We took a new route on base and I got to run up to and around the air field.  They'd actually put packed mulch down on part of the running path.  It was a nice change to run on the spongy surface for a mile.  I was ready to get back on pavement by the end, but it was a good change for a while.

Most of the run at the beginning was uphill.  Then there were some ups & downs.  By mile 14, I was in a bad mood and ready to just finish.  There was a big hill in front of me, and I knew I still had 4-6 miles left on my run.  (I wasn't sure how long it would be to get back).  I was using a gu every 5 miles, and I still had a mile to go until my next pick me up.  It felt like I was going to have a long hour ahead of me.  BUT something magical happened around mile 15.5.... I'm not sure exactly what it was; I think it was a combination of a few things.  The path started a nice almost 2 mile descent, so it was all a gradual downhill, I used a gu with 2X caffeine in it (the previous 2 were not caffeinated), and the running fairy came and sprinkled running magic on my legs.

All of a sudden, I felt like there was an electric voltage running through my legs and I had all the energy in the world.  My legs felt strong and I wasn't tired at all.  It was amazing.  My pace increased and I was running sub 9 minute miles.   I felt it wearing off a little when the road leveled out, and by mile 19 I could tell I was starting to run out of magic a little, but I still managed an 8:38 for my last mile.  It was amazing!!  I hope I can find that magic running fairy again during the race.  I'm hoping she's 6 feet tall with long legs and blonde hair. 

Avg pace 9:36 for all 20 miles.

Saw the movie "courageous" at the theater.  A local church group had rented out the 1:00 show and we were offered free tickets from a lady I work with who goes to that church.  It was an amazing movie, and it was neat to share the experience with some co-workers & their families.  Plus, free popcorn refills.  Salty popcorn is so tasty after a long run.

2 mile walk around the hood

gummy bears, cookies & sweet potato fries

3 of the 4 major food groups.

Legs were sore from Saturday, so it took a while to get the ouch out.  Progressive for all but 1 mile.  Glad to have the miles done with.  Chilly morning, but it felt good running in cool, crisp air rather than muggy hot soup air.

ab ripper x

shred level II

20 min elliptical

after I finished getting ready in my room and went out to the kitchen to get my lunch packed for the day, I was treated to a wonderful delight - Littlest Buccaneer had baked cookies for breakfast.  Oh how I love that child.  She even left me a few scoops of cookie dough in a bowl with a sign that said, "eat and enjoy!"  And I did.

Celebrate Diwali!!

Speed work today.  Dreading it, but glad when it was over.

1 mile warm up, then 1600 x 8:05 pace, 800 x jog (repeated 4 times).   Some days it feels good to run fast. 

Total miles - 7.11 so I took out my double gulp cup and got it filled with diet coke to celebrate.  Totally coincidental that it happened on Diwali.  But when I realized it, I had to smile.

I've actually been getting to bed on time the last couple of days, and I didn't have as much trouble waking up on time as I usually do on Thursdays. 

I did a slow "recovery" run, but wanted to do my 9 mile loop that I haven't done in a long, long time.

I had a good run, and kept the pace around 9:50.  It went by faster than I'd expected.  No dogs today, just a nice cool morning. 

 AFter work, I went walking/running with a co-worker who is getting back into shape.  We ran .6 and walked 3.4 miles.  It was great, and I felt like I had uber energy all afternoon.

Ab ripper x.

6 with MR in the rain, then the 11.2 with Wyatt in the cloudy cool morning.  It was great to be back with Wyatt visiting and enjoying the scenery.  This was the best find of the day:

I went to church, then I baked cookies for 5 hours. 

Kiunkakers, Peppernoten, and pumpkin spice rice crispies.  No need for dinner :-)

Taper week- I've looked forward to this for so long, and now it doesn't feel right to only run 3 miles.  I ran fast (because it was very cold) and got 3.75 in.  Avg pace was an 8:22.  That's fast for me.

I was going to do more indoors, but I had to drive to seminary, and I got distracted making oatmeal breakfast and fiddling around. 

We went out for a little shopping trip in the pm because it was raining cats & dogs and I didn't expect any trick or treaters.  By the time we got back at 7:30, the neighbors said all the kids had come and we only had 5 door ringers for the next hour.  I guess rain doesn't stop candy-hungry children or their parents.  The sad news is, my little buccaneer didn't get to be the queen candy-passer-outer that she wanted to be.  The good news is I'd bought good candy this year, and we've got LOTS left over!  BAZINGA!!

I did my favorite "just dance" game on the Wii while we waited for trick-or-treaters.  I actually got one new high score.