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

4:30 was too early, so I slept in till 4:38.  Wow, living on the edge!!

It was nice to get out by myself and spend time in the dark. I'm sure that sounds silly, but it really was nice.  I only had one moment where I realized I was out by myself on a dark country road at 5 am and felt super vulnerable.  Luckily, the thought passed and I was back on track.  I tried running mid-foot strike.  I land differently on my left foot than I do on my right, and I can't seem to get the same "landing" on both feet.  I wonder if my knee brace makes a difference. 

My toes went numb on my run.  Was it because I was trying to midstrike run or was it because I had a big hole in my sock and all my toes were trying to crawl out thru it?  

Did the ab-ripper x when I got home and then..... off to work!  Hooray :-}

90 minutes on the elliptical...feet falling asleep again (esp the same one as yesterday when I was running).  I'm really enjoying my book, so it's the reason I chose elliptical over p90x today.  No regrets.

It's cold here today- for us.  High of 36?  Ick.  I brought my stuff to workout after school, but left my garmin at home (on accident).  Maybe I'll stay indoors and stretch.  Haven't done that in a while.

Ended up going home after school because the little wench's art club was cancelled.  I put on the merrells and did 2 miles in the hood.  I tried to stay focused on midfoot and then ball to heel, ball to heel...(As I'm typing this I can hear my tap dance teacher, "shuffle, ball, heel, shuffle, ball, heel."  Who knew she'd be describing how I run????)

It was slow.  I averaged a 10:50.  I want to train myself to run correctly, but my feet don't listen very well.  Or at least the right foot doesn't listen.

Early morning with the neighbor.  It was 22 degrees.  Coldest day all season yet... I had to bring all my plants inside so they wouldn't die.

We bundled up and did some speed work.  9:08 warm up, 8:33, 8:44, 9:09.

Then I shedded a few layers and did the ab ripper.  It's actually getting easier.  Not easy, just easier.

 Out early, enjoying the dark.  9:28 avg pace.  Cold, but I was dressed for 20's not 30's and got too warm. 

Almost ran on over a dead squirrell.  Why was he sleeping on the side of the road right next to the white line???

I had a nice long post about all I did, and what tomorrow has in store.  Then I got distracted and when I finally clicked on publish & calendar, it all disappeared.

So here's a pix instead:

My fab Sunday hat.  Tried it on & knew it was a good hat that I could wear to church and if I fell asleep, no one would know cause they couldn't see my eyes!!

20 min elliptical, 2 kettle ball workouts (1 & 2), and ab ripper x.

Worked in the morning, and we'd considered just running Sunday am instead, but it was so beautiful outside Saturday afternoon that we went and ran on base for a change of scenery.

It was nice outside, and my capri length pants ended up being warmer than I needed.  Got a little too hot for my liking.  MR ran with me and we hung together until around mile 5, when he had to start taking walk breaks.  I would run ahead, run back for a couple of miles, but at mile 7 I went ahead and ran to the car. 

Trying to get MR ready for the 1/2 in Feb.  He tends to not train and shows up and runs like the devil.  I just don't think that's healthy.  He wants to get in under 2 hrs, so I'm trying to help encourage him.  It's hard coaching a spouse. 

MR & I slept in (how lovely). Then we did the p90x stretch video together.  We were both sore & tight from the run Saturday and it really helped.  It may become our new Sunday morning activity. 

Ran  the chicken farm road today.  The wind was blowing right from the hen houses onto the road, so I had a super smeller of a run on that part of the road.  First mile was over 9, but all the rest were under.  Avg pace 8:48.  Fast second half than first.

Little nagging soreness on the bottom of my arch.  I normally wouldn't think much of it at all, but after RAD's foot business, I'm seriously worried.

It was 47* outside this morning.  Very nice.  Only my wrists got cold.

Got home and did the ab ripper.  It was harder doing the first few exercises that use my quads, but I'm feeling stronger with that video every time!  If only I could see some results!  My ripped abs seem to be hiding behind my rippled steak biscuit and rootbeer float belly fat.

 After work I ran 1.44 miles, then took mini-me to tutoring and walked 3 miles, finishing up with a .8 mile run.  My legs were tired and running was tough, but I know they'll get stronger from doing these twice a day runs.

Stupid foot pain.  I'm beginnng to think I'm having sympathy pains for RAD :-(  So get better soon, sister blister!!

I did pilates and one of the kettle ball workouts.  Took some meds & hope for the best. 

Foot was fine except for the push-up section where I had to flex my toes and put pressure on the ball of my foot.  That stretching and pressure made the pain flare up.  Luckily I only had to do 5 :-).

After work, did some speed work with walk breaks inbetween.  Total of 2.36 miles walked and 1.06 miles run.  Our speeds were short (.37 was longest and .12 was shortest) but we did get going fast a couple of times.  6:41 for one of them, but most were in the low 7:00.

My foot doesn't hurt when I run.  Just after & before.  Not sure what that means, but I think if it doesn't hurt while I'm running, then why quit running?

Early run with my neighbor.  She's trying to recover from some tendonitis in her foot and she's going to a PT who said they'd "scrape her feet."  WHAT does that mean?

We averaged a 9:13, didn't really push the speed too much, and I was okay with that because I ran fast Monday and did those fartleks last night. 

My foot didn't hurt running, but at the end of the run, my freaky knee (which hasn't bothered me in ages) started hurting in a new place. I was going to run 2 more miles after we finished, but jumped on the elliptical for 20 minutes instead, and then I decided to lay in bed and ice it instead of doing ab ripper x.  No regrets :-)

Taking the afternoon off of running.  I noticed my mileage last week jumped up from my December totals.  I may need to ease into the higher miles a little more slowly. And I'm kind of disappointed when I say that because "higher miles" right now only means "over 20."

Wait, what am I complaining about?  I was supposed to be recovering and taking it easy in December, so I'm not going to whine that my miles were so low.  I'm ready to play it smart!

Slept in, did a short run (to try and not over-do-it) and that was it.

No knee pain at all last night or today.  I'm glad it was just a short term thing.

Foot pain doesn't seem to bother me any more or less than usual so I'm just wearing my arch supports and keeping my fingers crossed.

90 minutes elliptical after work.  trying to catch up on my old runner's world magazines so I can read the new one I just got yesterday.

Went to walk with MR this morning.  I tried to get him up early to walk outside around the hood so we could enjoy the moon-light, but he wanted to sleep in.  So we walked at the park while mini-me was in seminary.  The park just isn't as magical with all the lights and trees blocking the moon.

What was magical was the wicked cold wind.  MR forgot a hat and gloves, and then refused to walk at a brisk pace to try and warm up.  MR WHINEY HIENEY!  Gaaaa!!!

After 2 miles, we drove back to the church where I went inside and did ab ripper x by myself.  I liked it better without Tony because I counted as fast as I wanted to!

It was in the 20's (cold for me) so I was layered up like a lasagna, but when the sun came out, it was actually very nice.  The horrible winds from Friday morning were gone, thank goodness.

MR & neighbor lady ran while her husband biked along.  He actually ended up freezing and having to stop to warm up his feet, because we were workin' it, and he was just slowly pedaling along. 

I'm glad he came along because after mile 5, neighbor and I picked up the pace and ran at a comfortable pace while MR ran at his little slower pace and bike-man kept him company.

Good negative splits for us, and I was proud that MR finished the run without stopping to walk.

My watch died after mile 2, so I have no idea what my time/splits are.  Doesn't really matter anyway. 

Got up and made Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner, then MR and I did our p90x stretch together. 

I really like the stretch video. Feels good :-)

Ran with MR after sleeping in too late, but I am glad we did, because it was still cold at 10:30 in the morning.

Not really eventful, one car refused to move over at all and seemed to just want to hit us.  I wish I had a air horn to blow at them when they do that.  I'm keeping my eye open for one (yes, the good eye, and not the one under the patch)!

60 minutes on the elliptical

ab ripper x

still not finished with my runner's world magazines.  I must read really slowly when I'm working out.  I'm still on the first magazine!  Love the story about the runner from Ghana who scrimps & saves to build a school house & clinic in his home town.  The article really made me think and consider how blessed I am and how I would like to make a difference like he does.

after school:  ran/walked.  1 mile run with a 1/3 mile walk, repeated 3x.  total was 4.2, so 1.2 miles walked and 3 miles run.  Not fast, just moving.

Early morning with my neighbor.  She had her foot scraped again yesterday, so we didn't go really fast.  Avg pace 9:15.  It was warm outside!  57* and we were able to run inbetween rain storms.

Tomorrow morning will be 27*.  Ick.

Tried doing some speed interval-type workout. Ran 1 warm up mile, then .73 fast, jogged for a while, fast for .75, jogged again, fast for 1 mile, then a cool down.

My fast paces were 7:35, 7:**(can't remember), and 8:01.

Glad to have that over with.  It was 30* when I left the house just after 5:00.  It was cold, but I ended up getting over-heated in the end.  I want a happy medium somewhere!

ab ripper x, 20 min elliptical

afternoon: 45 min on elliptical while I read "Hunger Games"..... liking the book!

Went out with MR and my neighbor.  We went at an easier pace, and had a nice run.  It had stopped raining and was just beautiful outside.  I wore shorts and a singlet.

We ran across one field where they were growing a Subaru.  It cropped up over night and seemed to be growing well.   On our way back home, it had been towed out of the field.  Looks like someone was going very fast and almost cleared the ditch, but left part of the undercarriage near the ditch, the front bumper a few yards in front of the "impact" and broke the front suspension. 

Someone had one wild & crazy night.

p90x stretch with MR (aahhh...it feels so good)

2 mile walk in the evening

Chue Mung Nam Moi!!  (Happy New Year!)

Early, early... up before 4 am to get it all in, but I managed.

It was 39* out, but a cold wind kept my jacket on the whole way home.  Ran a simple out & back to the p-town light.

Then off to Waffle House for mine-me's birthday breakfast.

90 min on elliptical in the pm to burn some birthday food calories and to read my book.  I wanted to keep going, but my silly MR wanted to spend time together.  WHEN will I get to finish my book?

p90x legs & back.  my knees didn't hurt, but they were cracklin like rice crispies.

After work:  went to the school track...ran 2 miles, walked 2 miles, ran 1 mile and walked .17 to the finish line. It was beautiful outside!

Early morning with neighbor. We headed out a little earlier to get in 5 miles.  We went slow today.  My legs were tired & sore from yesterday, she had ailments of her own and just got "scraped" yesterday so we enjoyed our very slow jog in the fog.

She'll be leaving for airborne school soon & I'm going to miss my Wednesday running partner.

After the run, took mini-me to seminary and went home for a little nap. My legs are sore, sore, sore.  But it kind of feels good.  I think I may have reached level "crazy."

Finished book 1 last night....had to will myself to stay in bed & not get book 2 out.  Good thing there's only 3 of them!

This morning, I couldn't move my legs without them hurting.  The activities from the last 2 days have them screaming in pain.  I have a long run planned for the pm, and wonder how it's going to happen.

------------------------

After work- hurried and got ready after work and finally got to run with Wyatt again.  She even wore her hat.  It was beautiful outside.  Shorts & long sleeve tee (I think I could have even gone short sleeved).  I had my headlamp on when we started because I knew we'd be out for a long time and didn't want to get caught in the dark.  It was a good plan!

I was ready to stop and keel over in exhaustion at what felt like mile 12, but when I checked my watch, it was only 2.73.  Dang, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish.  But somewhere between 4 and 5, things started feeling better and we decided we'd go for 11 instead of 10.  I love it when you get past that point of despair and feel like you can go on. 

I had to take a "side trip" to the woods about 1/2 way through the run and found the thorn bushes.  It's great when I finish a run and look "rugged" with bloody scratches and thorns sticking out of my legs. 

We were slow.  Oh, so very, very, very slow.  No matter, we just kept running and talking.  It's good to run with Wyatt- I've missed her.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to walk this morning, but my legs actually felt better after that 11 mile run than they did before.  Strange.

I only had time for 30 min on elliptical, but I got some book time in and feel better for doing something rather than nothing.

We spent the week-end at Beech Mountian (the highest elevation point in the US east of the rockies).  There wasn't any "natural" snow, but the small ski resort there had made 3 1/2 fingers of snow on the mountain for skiing.

The fearof damaging my knees skiing keeps me off the slopes.  We went on a hike instead.  The weather was lovely for mid-winter mountains.  The hike went along a river with beautiful waterfalls.  Just after we finished, a fog came in and a little icy snow came down.  Glad we'd finished when we did.

Here's a couple of pix from our hike:

It was cold this morning out on the mountain, but we got in a little hike before our long car ride home.  Thankfully, there was an IKEA on the way for a nice mid-trip break :-)

Back to running this morining.  I was slow- avg pace 9:32.  Not sure why today was a tough run day, some days are just like that I guess.

I did manage to pull off a 9:01 the last mile, so maybe I just needed more time to warm up.

I went to get up out of bed early, and MR said "Just 5 more minutes" so I stayed in bed with him and 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes of sleep. 

30 min elliptical, ab ripper x, 15 more minutes of elliptical.

I'll do something after work in the "running" department.

walked a total of 2.18, ran 3 after.  All under a 10mm.  Bubble girls are getting busy!!

Early morning with my neighbor.  We left early so we'd have plenty of time to get our 6 miles in.  Ran to the p-town light.  I only recall 2 cars passing us on the road.  One of them was being ridiculous and wouldn't give us an inch.  I am looking forward to using my new air horn on these people in the future!

In the pm I put on my vibrams and went for a walk to deliver a package that the mail carrier delivered to the wrong address (mine).  I decided to try running home slowly in them to practice my mid-foot strike. 

Then, I had to redeem myself a little in the calorie department and spent some time (75 minutes) on the elliptical to try and work off the 2 1/2 donuts, 5 cookies & hot fudge sundae I ate at work today.  Pretty sure I didn't burn them all off, but I made a dent.

Watched "money ball" movie in the pm.... MEH... fell asleep a couple of times- kind of depressing.

I slept in because it was raining, and my bed was so much more inviting than the rainy roads.  When I got up an hour later, the rain was done, and it was 58* outside. Perfect weather for a run. Avg pace 8:57

This afternoon is looking like a run with Wyatt.  Goodie goodie!!

A Beautiful afternoon/evening run with Wyatt.  We wore shorts & t-shirts and it was just perfect.  We went slow and easy (had to stop and watch a beaver playing in a swamp for a few minutes) and talked each other's ears off.  If we could only talk our rears off too!!  Avg pace 10:57  (2 min difference from this morning).

p90x and 20 min elliptical.

Krispy Kreme tomorrow-  whoopeeee!!!

Great fun with the neighbors on the ride to & from the race, as well as at the race while we watched and commented on everybody that was running!  My favorite was either Hulk or the Spartans, who all took off running in ranks, with their red capes billowing behind them in the wind and their swords held high. 

I never did actually see the frisbee guy who was running in body paint and had a frisbee tied on the front and a frisbee tied on the back.  Too bad for me.  Then there were these guys at the donut stop:

Does that tattoo on the guy's forearm actually say nerd?  I'm just glad that race bib is stragetically placed to cover his ranger panty squat.

MR ate his dozen (I only ate one donut & took the rest with me in a ziplock bag [thanks for the great ideas grandma]).  He actually finished before me- the run back is all uphill and he's a beast on the hills.  I struggled to catch up with him for almost 2 miles and had just about caught him, but was just a second or two behind.  Including the stop, I had a 9:49 average pace, but I did lap my "donut stop" time, which was over 9 minutes, so the average running was a much better pace... more like a 7:59 or something.

It was chilly to start, but so much better than last year with all of the rain.  I wore my FAT KIDS LOVE CAKE t-shirt and got a few comments out of it.  Evidently, it's acceptable to wear to a donut race, but not so much to Red Lobster for dinner at the all you can eat shrimp-fest.

Here's a pix of MR in his warrior skirt and helmut....

What a hottie.

Neighbor and I were going to run 11 today since we didn't get a long run in on Saturday, but we both woke up sore from the race and it was overcast & drizzling. 

We decided to only do 4-6, but after 2 just threw in the towel because her back was really hurting.  We walked home and look at a house for sale that she wants to buy (she's renting now).

Here's a photo of some superheros from the krispy kreme run....

You're welcome.

Up and at em early again.  The first couple miles were super slow & tough, but then I caught my groove & put it in my pocket for the rest of the run.

Nothing dead to see, although it could have been me looking like a running zombie there the first 2 miles.  Here's something you CAN see- another contestant in the stange costume krispy kreme challenge.

A very merry unbirthday to you!

what a mess of a morning.  I slept in knowing that I'd still have plenty of time to do the p90x plyo, then just afer I got up, I got a phone call saying I'd have to pick up daughter from seminary so that cut my time in half.  I decided to do some elliptical instead, and then after 20 min she called & said she had a ride home anyway.

So I could have done it, but didn't think it was possible, and then was relieved/mad that I didn't get the chance. 

I ended up with 45 elliptical and one kettle ball session.  Running today after school.

We ran and went through a new neighborhood to get a new view.  Me & the lone bubble girl...

Early morning run with neighbor.  We both had so much to talk about, we were still talking when we finished but had to go inside because it was too cold to stand around being sweaty wet.

We were chased by 2 dogs on a road I usually never have dog trouble with.  And of course I'd left my air horn at home!  I feel like the wicked witch of the west, "I'll get you next time, my pretty!"

Avg pace 9:40.  Knee bothered me the rest of the day.  Iced it in the pm.  Hoping for better luck with it tomorrow.

My knee felt better this morning, and I wondered if I should run like I'd planned- but I chose to err on the side of caution and I did elliptical instead.

45 min elliptical and ab ripper x.

Got a phone call during elliptical that I had to pick up daughter from seminary.  The boy that drives her home fell asleep on his way to the church this morning and drove his car into someone's front porch.  So I'm guessing I'll be driving her home from seminary for the rest of the year.  NOT happy about that.  The boy is okay- didn't hurt him, but totaled his truck.

20 min elliptical after work.  Went to bed early again.  I could get used to this.

I had to wake up at 3:40 this morning to get it done, but it was worth it to get my long run in with MR.  He'd taken the morning off so we could run together.  It was 32* when we left and 30* when we got home.

10 miles- it was our long run for the week.  We have plans Saturday morning so we did it early.  It's great having it out of the way already.

Ave pace was 9:40.  Faster the second half than the first, and I felt good finishing strong. 

We had to stop along the way 3 times.  Twice for MR's twisted ankle (it's hard to judge depth perception in the dark), and once because he was hot and when he tried to unzip his sleeves, he got frustated and turned into the Hulk and started ripping the fabric of his jacket. 

I had a gu half way through.  it was key lime pie.  I loved it!

No critters, very few cars.  I did take my air horn with me and when the dog came out and I pushed the horn, it was kind of quiet... and then the whole thing started freezing over and spraying freezing air everywhere. I froze my hand (8.5 hours later, it's still red & tender).  It did keep the dogs back, but it took a lot of air time.  I didn't see any house lights come on, but I'm hoping as the weather warms up, the noise will get louder.  I'd just love to wake up the people who are irresponsible and leave their dogs out loose on the streets all night when it's 30 degrees outside. 

Hey, a girl can dream....

Did 30 minutes elliptical after work so I could earn some extra calories for dinner out with Wyatt.  Fun stuff, as usual.

We helped with a local blue & gold banquet today, but had time to sneak off to the park across the street and did some walking.  It was cold, but we were bundled up.  I wore my merrells and tried to walk on the balls of my feet instead of my heels like I usually do.

I had some terror flashbacks to Collette, (the crazy lady with cheese & dog hair) as I was walking pretty on my feet.

p90x stretch...always good

having that talk with your 18 year old about how they're going to have to start paying for their own insurance & cell phone bills.... never good

My own little 10K run in the moon-light.  My Garmin was dead...not just low, but dead.  It won't even charge.  Might have to get out the paddles and shock it back to life.  But it was good because I just ran what felt very comfortable, and didn't worry about anything but breathing and not being hit by cars. 

There weren't many cars on the road, so I eventually just turned my headlamp off and enjoyed the moon'light.  I'd turn it on if a car came by, but there were only 3 times I had to do it and I loved the quiet dark the rest of the time.  Totally clear skies (it was 30*) and the fresh air smelled sooo good.  I almost choked on some diesel fumes coming off a mini-bus, but the rest of the time it was mah-vel-ous!

I was going to get up at 3:45 so I could run 6 miles before MR & mini-me left for the morning, because I wanted to give them their valentines. 

But I've been feeling like I'm on the edge of coming down with something, and even though I had almost 8 hours of sleep I was still so tired and talked myself into staying in bed another 90 minutes.

I managed to squeeze in p90x ab ripper x and 30 minutes elliptical before I had to get ready for work. 

Good thing I did something- I've already had a donut, a bo-berry biscuit, and a cupcake!

Early morning with my neighbor.  We are enjoying our Wednesday runs together, always lots to talk about.  I had my headlamp off most of the time, just us and the moon and the stars.  And the random barking dogs...but they were all behind fences today.

We averaged a 9:22, which is better than we've been doing.  I didn't want to go too fast so I'd be ready for Saturday.  Hope I'm not sick- I feel like it's just waiting beneath the surface - ready to jump out and grab me by the throat.  Trying to get plenty of sleep and take my vitamins.

Just wanted to get out and do something.  I had to pick up from seminary, so I was short on time and this worked for me.

walked 3+ miles on treadmill at 2% grade after school at a 4.5 mph pace.  We have a new workout room at the school for the staff...3 treadmills, an elliptical, a recumbent bike, and 2 boxing bags.  It was a good day to be inside walking.

20 min easy on elliptical, then I had to do the seminary driving both ways.  Good plan for a taper day.

Went to bed early the night before, but hotel doors slamming all night kept me up till 11.  And I was worried about jr at home alone (not sure which I was more worried about- him or the home), so my sleep time really suffered.  I finally found some ear plugs at 11:00 and then got some sleep.

The course is nice and flat for this race, and this year was the best weather year yet!  No snow, no rain, temps in the am were just around 40 (chilly just standing around), but warmed up to the 60's by the afternoon.  Perfect running weather.

MR and I ran together.  He ended up pacing us a little faster than I'd anticipated, and I was surprised that he didn't KO by mile 10, but that race adrenaline kicked in and he brought us both in with new PRs.

Our goal was under 2.  Getting in under 1:55 was just a treat.  I was happy all our miles but one were under 9mm.  And that was the mile with the mile 10 waterbreak when I had to stop to walk to catch my breath, eat my gu, drink some water & spill pink gatorade all over myself. 

Average was an 8:43 pace.  I really tried to run good tangents, and for me, .08 isn't bad.  Splits were: 8:34, 8:38, 8:40, 8:42, 8:44, 8:37, 8:56 (water/gu), 9:00 (water again), 8:42, 8:37, 9:14 (water/gu), 8:45, 8:19, and 7:33 for the last .18. 

This was a great run, but I didn't "enjoy" it as much as I have in the past when I've just been running to have fun rather than running to meet a new PR goal.  I missed a lot by staying focused on running instead of noticing the other runners, the beach, the gay dolphin store, etc.  

And I guess there are 2 ferris wheels in myrtle beach now.  I thought I was having a bad mind trip when I saw one on the run up ahead of us and I could have sworn we'd already passed it.

The after run food was great.  chocolate milk, hot chicken noodle soup, the banana, orange, bagel, muffin & more tent, krispy kreme donuts that were waiting to be dipped in hot chocolate sauce and rolled in sprinkles (those were sooooo good), and of course the beer tent where MR had his beer & mine too.

We went back to the hotel, spent some time in the hot tub, took a nap, went for a 2 mile walk on the beach, and found our way to a Red Robin for some rootbeer float training time.  He got in 4, and I managed to take down 3 with 2 orders of sweet potato fries.  Needless to say, I was hitting the tums pretty hard by bedtime, but it was all worth it.

MR says he might even try a marathon sometime.  He'll need his own medal rack soon if he keeps this up!  My quads are sore from the run- not something I usually experience, but then I've never run 13 miles at that speed before, so I don't know what to expect. 

Morning 2 mile walk on the beach with MR, drove home, p90x stretch (aahhhhhh), then another 2 mile walk in the evening.  Just trying to walk that soreness away.

President's day and I got to work.  Hooray :-(

20 min elliptical on easy.  I never imagined my quads would be this sore after a 1/2.  I want to recover properly and not over-do it. 

pilates in the morning

My last Wed morning with my neighbor for a while.  She's going away to school for a few weeks.

We ran an avg 9:57 pace which felt just right.  My legs have felt better ever since. 

45 min elliptical on super easy in the pm while I worked on finishing up runner's world.  Billy Mills story always amazes and inspires me.

At 2:00 this morning, I was awakened by my chicken making noises outside my window.  Our chickens sleep in a hut inside their fenced in coop area, which is nowhere near my bedroom window, so I woke up 100% certain that there was a vicious predator in the coop that was killing all the chickens, and this one had managed to fly out and had come cackling at me for help.

I'm busy looking for suitable attire to put on to go out and put the chicken massacre to an end, and looking for my headlamp, and finding my glasses... it seemed like forever. I envisioned carnage and feathers everywhere, with perhaps an opposum or raccoon licking it's little lips in the distance.  My heart was racing with fear and adrenaline.

Finally, I got out back and right there waiting at the door is "Lassie."  I picked her up and walked out to the coop and the other girls were all safe in the hen house.  I have no idea why that silly bird was 1-awake at 2am or 2-cackling outside my window or 3-not in the hen house with the others.

But I was wide awake, and it was still only 2:20 in the morning.  I was up for at least another hour with my mind running and my body not wanting to.  So I slept in this morning.  I had to drive for seminary which means I'd have to be finished working out by 5:30, and I didn't have the energy or desire.  I'm counting it as a recovery morning.  I'm planning on getting out and walking/running at the park this afternoon.

Hopefully the great chicken mystery of 2 am will not have a sequil anytime soon.

Went to the park and got in 3 laps.  Each lap took just under 10 minutes and is around 1 mile.  It was beautiful outside.

I didn't wake up super early- I stayed in bed as long as possible. It's a good thing (I'm telling myself) that I did so I didn't over-do-it and run too much.  The things I can justify....

It ended up being a progressive run.  I just started running comfortably and by the last mile decided to go ahed and run faster to try and make it 30 second intervals.  I got pretty close. Laps were around 10:10, 9:40, 9:10, 8:40.  Then I had to hurry in and get ready for work.

Of course at work we've had donuts and King's Hawaiian bread with spinach dip and that was all before 10:30.  Good times...

We weren't going to run today, since our training for the 1/2 was over, but there was a free fun run on base, and we just couldn't resist. 

It was colder than I'd planned, but warmed up quickly running the first mile almost all downhill.  Then it kind of plateaus, then uphill.  I told MR I wasn't going to race, but geez, I just the fever!

When we were nearing the 1/2 way point, I started counting females that were ahead of me.  I counted 9, so I would have been #10, but as we turned the 1/2 way point, some pony-tailed vixen passed me up and made me #11.  Aaarrrggghhh!  Well, I worked hard the second half of the race (I even left MR behind) because I wanted to be in the top 10.  I managed to get #10 about half way up the hill, and then on the last stretch of the track heading into the finish line, I got #9.  Woo-hoo!!

They had lots of free SWAG there.  Got some t-shirts, pens, chick-fil-a mini sandwiches, water, food snacks, etc.  We stuck around for the raffle drawing, and I was getting really cold.  We had another 1/2 hour to wait so we went back to the car and I got the awesome fuzzy stinky blanket RAD gave me for Christmas to wrap around myself and keep me warm.  Thank you for saving the day RAD!!

We didn't win anything on the raffle drawing (I wish lucky Burt was there to help me win- he always wins stuff), so we left to do our trail hike.

We did 4 miles on the trail with ruck sacks.  I made sure mine wasn't too heavy, but MR was dragging along his 60 lbs trying to be a hot shot.  My allergies started going crazy and I turned into a hot snot.  I had to use the little towel they gave away at the race to keep wiping my nose and eyes with.  My legs really felt that hike.  4 miles was enough for me. 

It was a good day.  Cherry trees are in blossom and there are pink blooms coming up everywhere.  The forsythia are all blooming too.  I'm soooo glad spring is here :-)

20 min elliptical while I waited for my sticky buns to cook in the oven.  I used cheesecake pudding mix instead of butterscotch.  Good stuff, Charlie Brown.

Went for a 2 mile walk in the pm.  I felt a little rock - tiny, tiny pebble under my big right toe.  After a few houses, I stopped to kick it out.  Later that night, my toe was still sore so I looked at it, and I've got a nickel sized blood blister on the bottom of my toe.  CRAP!

I chose not to run because the blood blister on my toe is really sore and I didn't want to push off funny on my foot and hurt myself trying to run this morning. 

I started the p90x today trying to get buff for the dirty hog on May 5th.  I won't finish the program by then, but I'm sure I'll get stronger.  If I can keep it up.

Day one is chest & back.  pushups and pull ups and chin ups.  My arms feel very wobbly 9 hours later.  I just know they will be sore tomorrow (and maybe even the rest of the week).  I know I've got to get over it to improve, but I am dreading the sore muscle pain.  I'm stretching and waving my arms around every chance I get. 

After the chest & back I did the ab ripper x (or I tried), it was sooo hard.  Was it because I didn't do it last week or is it because I was already ka-put?  probably both.  The cat usually hangs around my head trying to get pet while I'm doing ab ripper, but today I was making all kinds of horrid sounds and it kept kitty away.  Good to know :-)

I took two little red decongestant pills before going to bed last night, and I'm not sure exactly why but I was wired all night long and couldn't sleep.  I laid in bed from 9 till 1 am, and I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to wake up in time to finish the p90x plyo before 5:30 am.  

I finally got tired of worrying about it, and around 1:10 am, I got dressed and did the plyo.  I decided since I was wired and couldn't sleep anyway, I'd just get it out of the way.  I finished the plyo and finally got to sleep around 3 am- just to wake up at 5:30.  

Then I went with MR to the base where we did PT together.  We ran 4 miles.  It was a good speedy, hilly workout for me.  I was surprised that I had enough energy to finish it after 2.5 hours of sleep.  Those little red pills are magic! 

We grabbed some breakfast and went to the tax center where it took us 3 hours to have our taxes worked out.  I finally started feeling sleepy at the tax center, but managed to stay awake long enough to enjoy some fab Thai food for lunch.

Then I had a nap and went to the dentist.  What a way to spend a day off work.

My arms are sore, my chest muscles are sore, my back muscles are sore.  I'm not sure how I'm going to pull off the shoulders & arms video tomorrow, but I'll try.  Hopefully it won't be at 1 am :-)

I took some theraflu last night before bed.  Much better results than the little red pills- although something should be said for the great feeling of accomplishment one gets from finishing their p90x workout by 230 in the morning.

I had driving duty this morning, so I didn't get to run and do p90x.  I've got plans to run with Wyatt after work.

It was a workout just trying to drag my sore muscles out of bed to start the video, and I was truly hoping it was a short 30 minute video.  But it was not to be- I saw the 59 minutes on there and cried a little inside.  I knew I had to do ab ripper after and just wasn't sure how it was going to work since I was so, so sore.

I managed to finish the video, but I used light weights.  I have 2, 4, or 10 lbs.  10 is too heavy for me for almost all the exercises right now.  4 seemed too easy for some of them, but I used it and figured it was better than nothing and it would probably make me sore none-the-less.

Maybe I'll get some 6 & 8 lb weights to work my way up to the 10.  I feel like such a whimp using less than 10 pounds, but it's honestly all I can do right now.  I'm looking forward to seeing some improvements in that department.

After work, met Wyatt and attempted to run.  The first 1.5 miles were so slow.  My calves hurt like crazy.  We took a stretch break, and the next few miles were 100% better.  Still slow but not a painful torment.  We ran a little on a dirt road and found that someone had been flying a kite, and left the kite on the other end of the field with fishing line strung across the length of 3 fields and almost tripped us because it was strung across the road at knee length.   It was a nice 20 minute diversion.

Had to get up before 4 so I could start P90X yoga at 4.  It's 92 minutes long, and honestly, I was worried.

I liked that it had a lot of the stretches that we do in the stretch video because I needed to stretch out something fierce.  I'm glad the video is divided into 2 sections, because I was nearly KO'd after all those one legged leaning stretches.  There were some difficult things I hadn't anticipated, but all in all, I liked the video and have felt so much better sore-ness wise since I finished it.

I had zero energy after work.  It took all I had to get home, open some windows for a breeze, and lay down for a nap.  I am finding myself very, very tried at the end of the day lately.  I'm not running much, but these videos seem to wear me out even more than running does. 

I had to wake up at 3:30 this morning to get the legs & back & ab ripper done and have enough time to get ready before seminary.  I drove there today because I was supposed to be meeting someone for a VT meeting at McDonalds during the class.

She never showed up- so I got a nap in the car (thank you again RAD for the fuzzy blanket, that's twice in a week it's saved me!) and have no regrets.  I needed sleep.  I was sooo tired.

Good news is I have almost zero soreness.  Just a little bit left over in my calves.  If it's not raining, maybe I'll run a little tonight. 

--- no run.  45 minute elliptical reading the book "The Running Dream."  I'm about half way through and I'm liking the book.  Very easy reading.

Finally got some sleep.  p90x kenpo today.  I had fun imagining who it was I was punching in the face and kicking.  I can't believe I've finished day 6.  Rain all morning, maybe an afternoon run.  Certainly an afternoon nap.

Got in my nap and a run.  It was still drizzly, but not too bad.  Avg pace 9:36.  Last mile fastest, so a good run.

Got more sleep, p90x stretch (I've been looking forward to it all week!)

Well, today was the first day of week two.  I kind of dreaded it- not looking forward to all the sore muscles again (secretly hoping it won't be quite so bad).  I was getting ready in the morning and wondering how bad I really wanted this.  Is it worth 4 am wake up (or earlier) every day for 90 days?  I'm trying to keep positive and motivated. 

I don't want to lose my running base, but don't have time to run and p90x in the am (driving seminary home all week).  I'm going to have to run in the pm- but I think I'm going to keep my miles low until I adjust to the p90xhaustion.

I did a run around 4:30.  Just went in the hood.  It was a tough start.  I'm trying to work on listening to my foot-strike and keeping them even- I seem to have a tendency to drag my right foot a little when I set it down.  The first mile felt horrid, but it got easier and my pace increased.  Progressive run. 9:28, 9:07, 8:47, 8:15 (for the last .25).  The last little bit felt like it was pushing too much, but the 8:47 felt good. 

Later in the day, went on a 2 mile walk with MR.  It was cold out!

p90x day 8.  Tomorrow I'll be 10% done.  I'm looking at this like a really long run- trying to break it up into smaller pieces.

Plyo today.  It's a tough video, but a great workout.  I am so happy that my body isn't as sore today as it was last week.  In fact, there's very little soreness at all.  Hooray!!

Day 9 is done.  10% finished :-)

Arms today followed by ab ripper.  I hate crunchy frogs. 

I tried heavier weights on most of the moves.  But the muscles on the bottoms of my arms are so weak that they still needed baby weights.

Planned on running in pm- not sure if it's going to work out.

92 minute yoga.  I was feeling good and enjoyed the workout, but 20 minutes later my back started hurting, and now 9 hours later it is still sore.  It feels better the more I move, but WHY is it so sore?  What did I do? 

AARRRRRGGGGHHHH.

Ran in the pm with Wyatt a little, but we did mostly walking.  Then I came home to finish a short run with MR so I could get in a couple of miles.

Totals are 3.5 running, 3.5 walking.

p90x legs & back.  I was doing some of the pull-ups and using my chair (of course), but feeling pretty good about my awesome self when MR walked up to watch me.  I was expecting some kind of "great job" or "wow!"  Instead I got.... "you need to keep your legs straight, because when you bend your legs, they make it too easy."

Oh SHUT UP!!  I know it makes it easier- that's the only way I can do them!!!!!  BWWAAAHHHH!!!

Ran first, then did the p90x kenpo.  I wasn't as angry doing my punches, so I didn't have a target in mind for most of it, but lucky for me the phone rang and none of the other able bodied pirates bothered to answer it, so I had to stop what I was doing to get the phone.  That worked out pretty well, because then I had some targets in mind for the rest of the workout.

Instead of yelling kenpo grunts, I got to yell out "An-Swer-The-Phone!"

Good run with MR.  avg pace was a 9:25.

Morning p90x stretch.  Finished week 2!!  Hooray!!

In the pm, I went for a walk with MR and enjoyed all the pear tress in blossom.  They look so pretty, but smell soooo bad.  I spotted a few azaleas blossoming too.  I'm so glad spring is here.

I'm also glad I found this handy booklet for future child rearing directions:

I am so glad I've got seminary help again this week.   I had time to run 2.14 miles before I had to get busy on my first day of week 3 P90X.

It was chest & back.  I can't be sure, but I've almost convinced myself that I actually felt some muscles engaging when I was doing pull-ups today.  And thanks to MR, I even did it with my legs straight (so there)!

The ab ripper was super tough today.  I wonder if running first (even though it was minimal) made it harder. I nearly quit on the crunchy frog, and my bicycles were more like bigwheels stuck in mud.  I felt like this:

hope to get a pm run in later with  Wyatt.-  We were able to meet at a local park and run the armory road (a quiet stretch of road without too many pear trees blooming). We ran a total of 4.11 at a pretty slow pace.  It was so nice to have a sunny run and talk together.  Looking forward to more afternoon runs with Wyatt.

I seem to have trouble sleeping the night before plyo.  I think it psyches me out.  Got it done by 5:10 so I could do the seminary run today.  I felt like my legs didn't have their ususal strength, but it's probably from running last night.  That's what I'm guessing anyway.

Hope I can stay awake the rest of the day.

I got to sleep in until 4:30 today and it was magical.  p90x shoulders & arms- then the ab ripper, which was considerably easier than Monday when I'd gone running before the workout.

Hope to run this pm.

Afternoon:  Ran with MR around the hood.  It was 83* here today, so the hot took me by surprise.  Felt good to run with the sun on my shoulders, but the heat knocked my socks off.  Avg pace 9:05.  We walked a mile after so he could break in his new shoes, and I ran across the front yard, .03 miles in my vibrams just for fun.  But I counted it!

Sleep and yoga X.  Good morning.  All the donuts at work- not so much.  I feel better when I eat healthy, but I can't resist sweets!!

pm run- MR rode the bike.  It was cooler than yesterday, but still nice & warm.  The trouble is the pollen.  It makes me light headed and feel woozy, kind of hard to breathe.  My run was slow (yesterday's was fast for me), and I wanted to quit more than once, but I kept on truckin' and actually gained some speed the last 2 miles.  Paces were (around) 9:45, 9:59, 9:59, 9:58, 9:30, 9:11.

I was glad when it was over, and glad I'm getting a few more miles in this week.

p90x legs & back with ab ripper.  I did NOT want to do the ab ripper today.  I did some laundry after legs & back and had to go back to finish up.  When I choose laundry over anything, you know it's something I don't want to do.

probably no running today- Saturday will be here before I know it.

I am more than 20% finished with p90x!!  Today was day 19.

Just had to sleep in.  Just had to do it.

When I got up, I had a tasty sweet potato pancake breakfast and then did kenpo x.  I won't eat before doing that again- not a good idea, although if there was one food that is delicious again & again, it would be sweet potato pancakes :-)

No time for a run- I chose family & errands & an hour+ of yardwork. 

Saw The Lorax- cute movie!!

more sleep- I just have to get some sleep on the week-ends.  It was a 'rest' day or 'stretch video' day.  I stayed in bed and chose rest.

When I got up, it was perfect running weather, so MR and I went for a 5 mile run.  We went slow and had an avg pace of 9:50.  Last 2 miles were faster, but mile 3 was a 10:08, and took our average up a bit.

Went for a 2 mile walk after dinner.  Looking forward to my "recovery week" of p90x this week.

Monday morning, and I didn't have to do shoulders & back :-)..... instead I "got" to do yoga for 92 minutes.  Most of which is just fine, but I despise that warrior 3 half moon crap when I can't keep my leg up and I'm tipping over like a trailer in a tornado!

Got up early (3am) to get it done and VT before school.  I'll probably need a nap this afternoon, but I was okay this morning since I had so much sleep this week-end.

Ran 4 miles with Wyatt.  Super slow.  My sore back of my butt/hip is starting to spread pain down my leg and feeling like maybe ITband.  It hurts especially when I'm running on the edge of an inclined road.  I rolled it out and stretched like crazy.  Not happy with this new development.

My leg/hip hurts.  I'm mad it's bothering me.  I've cut back my miles drastically, so why is it acting up now?  Does p90x cause ITband problems?  If not, then what is causing this??

I didn't want to get up.  I just wanted to quit and stop exercising until the pain was gone forever.... but by 5:30 everyone was up and making noise, and I was awake, so I did the core synergestics.  It's a good workout and didn't bother my leg/hip much at all. 

No running today, just more stretching.

Went for a bike ride with MR after work.  Beautiful day- only got one bug that flew up my nose :-)  We went 8.9 miles and ended up riding over some newly tarred joints in the road...our bike tires are covered in sticky and have rocks all over them.  Even when we had rode 2 miles after the tar, the rocks were still sticking and I could hear the tar sticking to the road.  How do I get that junk off my tires???

Up early for p90x kenpo, then a run with my neighbor who is back from airborne school!!  She earned her wings and is speedy fast now.  I was so happy to have her back :-)))

We ran a good pace the first 2 miles, then her knee started acting up and we took a little break before running again at a slower pace.  So good to visit & run again.  Stretched the hip/leg out like crazy trying to stay on top of the pain.

Sleep & stretch.  I was so happy my p90x day today was stretching.  I didn't have to drive for seminary either, so I got to sleep in till 5:30.  What a dream come true :-)

And on a super-duper awesome note: Our principal is giving us lunch today!! Chili dogs & snow cones!!!!  Yee-Haw!!

Called & put in a request for PT with my primary care.  Hope she'll give me the request w/o having to get an appt first.  My hopes aren't too high, but there's a little there.

Went for a jog with Wyatt after work.  We took Fritz the dog out for a jog around the pond with us.  We didn't have gps with us, so I just kept track of time.  39 minutes, so probably 3.5 miles.

Kenpo x.  Then stretching my hip- trying to work out the soreness. 

Lots of sitting in the car driving to Raleigh & back.  Sitting seems to aggrivate it.

Went to watch a movie, and half way through the theater lost power.  Now I'll never know how Mission Impossible ends.

Yoga X, then we drove little one & her friends to the mall so they could shop for dresses.  While they were there, MR & I went and ran the perimeter of the flightline at the old AF base.  It's 6.5 miles, and I knew I had a good downhill for the end so I finished with 8 miles.

Avg pace was 8:31.  We ended up having to stop for one thing or another every 2 miles.  I figured it was okay because during the dirty hog, we'll be stopping for "challenges" every now & again.

p90x stretch.  I slept so much today.  I was afraid I'd be up all night, but I slept all night too.  Thank goodness for week-ends to catch up on sleep.

starting session 2 of the p90x workouts today.

This one was chest, shoulders & triceps.  All 3 are weak spots on me.  Push-ups still suck.  I try, but still look silly and not at all like I should. 

Then ab ripper x again.  I didn't miss it last week at ALL!!

Then I hurried out for a quick 2 mile run before getting ready.  Avg pace was 9:17.

Hope for more run later. 

4.04 after work.  It was beautiful outside.  My miles were around 9:30, 9:25, 9:04, 9:06.  I was glad mile 2 was faster than 1 because it involves a quarter mile climb. Mile 3 was down hill that same climb so it was easy to make it faster, and I was happy that I managed to get mile 4 in almost the same time without the downhill to help.  All 4 miles were hard for me- my legs were tired.  I was happy when it was over and I got make dinner.

2 mile walk with MR in the evening.

Lots of early morning leg work.  Plyo X and then I did a quick wardrobe change (into a dry shirt & my good running shoes). Went off with my neighbor for a 4 mile run.  By mile 3 I was spent.  It took a lot of work to finish that last mile, but I made it to the end :-) Finished stretching & was home by 5:40.    I hurried & took a shower so I could get a quick nap.  Why was it the morning people needed to text me?  I think I got 10 minutes of sleep.  Better than nothing :-)

Now I'm hungry.  Thank goodness our sugar daddy brought donuts in this morning.  Krispy Kreme filled with fluffy white stuff- my favorite!  You know on one of the p90x videos Tony actually says "No Krispy Kreme."  Guess what Tony?  I ate one and I enjoyed it!!

Stop the presses!  I didn't get up till 5 am today :-)

p90x back & biceps.  This is the last "new" video for me.  I've done the cardio before, so now I've offically done all 12 videos.

It was a good workout, but I wasn't sweating as much as I do with the other videos.  Tony called it the "vanity workout."  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical when it was over.

My hip was terribly sore last night, so I am letting it rest today.  No running.

Today is MR's birthday, so when he told me to sleep in, I did.  Just to make him happy :-)  Sometimes we have to sacrifice for those we love. 

I did get up at 4:30 & got yogaX done, dropped off mini me, and went to the birthday breakfast at the awful waffle.

It won't be a good diet day for me.  Too many cookies & too much cake.

Ran with MR after school and a quick nap.  It wasn't a good run- just one of those runs that you struggle through the whole time.  Glad when that was over!

Tasty sushi for dinner!

p90x legs & back, then ab ripper x.

Not much in the mood for any of it- but I got it done.  Long-ish run tomorrow.

Slept in hoping the rain would go away.  It did lighten up, but we still were wet to the bone.  I ran 7 with MR, then he had to go pick up little buccaneer so I did 2 more.  I wasn't going to, but I got a text from my friend training for the Nashville 1/2.  She's raising money for Gilda's girls and she did her first 9 miles.  I was inspired by her effort and figured I could do more.

Soppy wet sloshy shoes, but not a bad run.  The light rain can be nice sometimes and the sun actually came out for the last 2 miles.

Got a little more sleep in this morning.  EST is nice for morning conference sesions because I get 2 more hours to sleep :-)

When I got up, I did the p90x kenpo that I neglected yesterday.  I just didn't have time to do it after I finally got up in the morning.  I'm not sure it was a bad thing either since I went on a long run. 

   I will still continue on my p90x adventure, and I still have a goal to finish. When I tell people I finished p90x, will I feel like I need to clarify that I skipped one day and made it up on my rest day?  I hope not.  If I focus on what my purpose of doing the p90x is (to get stronger), then there's nothing wrong with modifying my rest day from day 7 to day 6, is there? 

Good news- I got the referral for PT (went to Dr last Tuesday).  Not sure how long to get an appt, but I'm on my way.

p90x chest, shoulders & back.   Tried to up the weights- by 2 pounds, and it made the sets seem twice as hard!!  Oh, well- little by little.  I can see improvements on all the push-ups except the one armed variety.  It's all I can do to just bend my elbow and straighten it.

Ab ripper x...  same old, same old.  16 minutes of annoying.  I need a new attitude.   Since it's at the end of the first video, I can't change it to the "shut up Tony" variety.  I did like the part of the chest video where the lawyer told Tony to "get out of my face."  Sweet!!!!  He really is stirring up a big pot of trouble :-)

After playing hide and seek with my headlamp (MR used it and left it in the garage), I finally got out for a quick run.  I just set out to run, and I felt great.  Increased speed for mile 2, and thought I'd cut back & had slowed down for mile 3, but I guess I just maintained because it was the same as 2 (what a nice surprise).  Tried to kick it up for the last .2..... just a nice run.  The weather was beautiful.  Not humid, dark & cool enough to get some breath fog going, but warm enough to just wear a t-shirt and shorts.

paces were 9:27, 8:31, 8:29, 7:40

Run this afternoon again if it's not raining.  4.01 slower miles with MR.  It was tough to get going...that first mile was never going to end!  We were just going to do 3.5 and ended up tacking another .5 on after arriving at home so we could finish 4.  The .01 is just for me to get an even # :-)

When I woke up, I realized I'd hit the snooze button 3 times and had no recollection of doing so.  That's dangerous!  Do I move my alarm clock further away from the bed, or just turn up the volume? 

Plyo X.  This is week 6, and it still wears me out.  Glad I didn't go running after!

Decided to run before p90x instead of after today.  I got to see a beautiful orange moon setting over the treeline in the west.  It was awesome.  My cool down walk I got a chance to look up at the sky, and there were so many sparkling stars in the sky- it was beautiful.  2 hours later, it was cloudy and gray outside.  I'm glad I went out early to run & got to enjoy the world.

"Glamour muscles" day for p90x.  Back and biceps.  then Ab ripper x.  I took my shoes & socks off for ab ripper, and in my mind, it was easier because I didn't have extra weight on my feet for the exercises.  Mind games- the key to p90x.  I think it's why Tony is crazy.

Today is Good Friday, or for those of us in the QP household, Good Fry-Day.  We gather together a few other pirates and land-lovers at our ship, and deep-fat fry everything and anything that comes to mind.

On the menu this year were 3 different batters:  a tempura-type batter, a beer batter, and a dessert batter made out of white cake mix.

Then there were a variety of things to put in the batter:  mushrooms, shrimp, crab, green beans, pickles, bell peppers, (carrots & celery, which don't fry up very well), oreos, twinkies, marshmallows, extra large marshmallows stuffed with mini reeses cups, or any other goodie.

We also had home-made egg rolls and fried chicken, as well as home-made fry bread courtesy of Wyatt & Co.

I ran before the fry fest, because based on previous experience, the day after the fry-fest is not a good day for running :-)

x-stretch, and a 2 mile walk in the pm.  Happy Easter- the Bunny-chicken brought us eggs already colored!

Sleeping in, then p90x chest, shoulders & triceps followed by ab ripper x.  MR did them with me, he's enjoying spring break with me!

 We headed out for a run and went 6.44 miles.  Avg pace was 9:42.  MR had some leg troubles so I ran home to get the car for him. 

Went to the cannery today, and had to leave early, so I did plyo early at 4:15.  Then good times at the cannery with powdered milk, flour, and potato flakes :-)

 Day 45 of p90x.  Half way there!  I actually feel like I've been doing this forever.  It's almost the end of week 7 and the end feels too far away.  One day at a time.

Glamour muscles today.  Back and biceps.  MR took turns on the pull up bar with me, so we had more mini-breaks.   Didn't help much with ab ripper though.

run avg pace: 9:26

MR rode the bike while I ran.  It has been very dry and windy here lately.  And it seems I always get to run into the wind.  Today I tried to make the first half into the wind so I could run home with the wind at my back.  Application wasn't as great as the idea, but I  was glad we took that route, because it was a great treasure hunt trip.

Treasure one was a big plastic box with a lock on it.  What was inside????  It was too heavy to bring home on the bike so we had to drive back to get it.

Treasure two:  a kite.  still in the wrapped plastic. Here's MR with his valentine kite.

 Treasure three: a dead snake...only I didn't know it was dead until after I'd screamed and jumped out of the way.   It was only then I saw the ants eating his head.

After we got home, and had retrieved the box, MR did his magic hammer voo-doo on it and we found that instead of a hidden wad of money, the gun that killed JFK, or a box of dope, there was only a universal use battery. 

No answers, just more questions.  Why was this battery inside a locked box?  Where did the box come from?  Who, What, Why, Where, When, and HOW???

p90x yoga.  MR did the whole video with me!  

Of course this was after sleeping in all morning.  Then as best I can remember, we wasted the rest of the day just being on break.  

I did work a little on the dress for the Warrior Dash this year.  Last year was prom theme...this year will be even better!! 

There was a plan at one point in time to run in the evening, but it was only a dream...

more sleeping in...I could get used to this!

Last week I had a hard time running after doing legs & back, so we went running first.  Easy slow run today.  I went a little longer today because I'm running long Sunday and not Saturday.  

Then we did the legs & back video and put up with Tony through another session of ab ripper x.

rootbeer floats to celebrate all the workouts today.

kenpo x with MR followed by 3 hours of yard work.  It was beautiful out, but I didn't run because I'm supposed to have a long run tomorrow with my neighbor.

Go up earlier than usual on Sunday to run with my neighbor.  She's been out of town for 2 weeks and asked me to run on Sunday since she'd just gotten back.  Sure, no problem.  She wanted to do 10-12 miles, so I charted out a 12 mile course and off we went.  MR was the water boy on the bike and we were off.  We went slowly because her knee was bothering her, which was good for me since I know long runs should be slower anyway.  

At mile 4.5, we went over some railroad tracks, and  the short little down-hill bit (10 feet long, 3 foot drop) was too much for her knee.  She had to stop and stretch and walk the pain out.  I feel so bad for her.  I know what that pain is, and I know how maddening it can be when you just want to run.  At that point we decided to cut the run short and headed back for 9 miles instead of the 12.  We had to stop again after the other side of the railroad tracks 3 miles later,  but other than that we pushed on through.  She'll be going to physical therapy and hopefully have her knee back & up to running again soon.... I hope.  It was great to be able to run with her again!

p90x with yoga belly 7 times.  "I know I'm yelling too much for yoga!!"

Saw my neighbor's new house (7 miles away :,,,(   drat!) but was thrilled to see it included a very awesome in ground pool.  Triathalon summer ahead!

Last week of training level 2 for p90x.  Core synergestics. 

Then I took an easy run for 4 miles in the hood. I used my old knee band instead of the big brace.  Stayed close to home incase it wasn't going to go well, and I was happy when everything was great.  The band is easier to run in and I'm glad everything felt good.  All the leg building with p90x may be good for something after all!

I'll still use the brace for long runs, but I'm going to use the band for the shorter ones.  Good news for me!

3:50 am I started Kenpo.  That's one workout that will wake up even the sleepiest pirate.

Then a 4 mile run with my neighbor through the hood. My watch would not load satellites, so I didn't get the first 2 miles stats, but we ran the last two at a 9:17 pace (with the knee bands again).  Her watch had our 4 mile avg pace at a 9:22, so we kept a good pace overall (for us).

It was a good morning, but now it's 11:40 and I've been sitting at my desk for almost 4 hours and the sleepy times are starting to sneak up on me.  STAY BACK sleepy-ness or I'll have to sword-hammer-knuckle punch-front kick-back kick-hook-uppercut you!!!

I was going to get up and do some elliptical before my p90x stretch video, but I stayed in bed instead.  Was going to run with Wyatt this afternoon, but she's getting sick and won't run in the cold (imagine that, not wanting to sacrifice her health for my needs!!) so I'm going to have to go solo.

Too much junk & crap going into the belly today, just not having a "strong" day on the battle of the healthy diet front.  I'm tempted to go home and eat those cheetos I've got hidden away in my treasure chest (bottom dresser drawer).  Maybe I should wait till after the run?

-----------------------

Well, I avoided Cheetos and just went for the run.  Had to stretch out after 1 mile, and when I'd finished stretching, I realized that I'd been standing in a pile of fire ants and they were all over my foot and leg.  I screamed out for help, tried to get them off my skin, and MR took my shoe and beat it silly till it was ant-free.  I've got 3 small bumps and one nice yellow welt forming on my leg now.  I hate those stupid ants.  Our local Hockey team is called the "Fireants," and they're horrible and cant' do anything right.  Why can't the real ants be as useless and ineffective?

My Garmin seems to be ready to give up the GPS ghost.  It shut itself off 5 different times during my run yesterday.  I'm hoping to get a new one soon, but I want to get a good one.  Any suggestions?

I planned on elliptical again this morning, but my knees are kind of sore and I'm doing a long run tomorrow, so I only did 5 minutes.  Then I did p90x core synergestics- I'm glad it's not as hard to complete as it used to be for me.   It IS still hard, just not as bad.

But I was able to get my hands on some cheetos at work :-p

Early out for a Saturday with my neighbor.  We ran 12, and kept the pace under 10 min/mile.  We stopped 3 times.  Twice for a "look at that! break and once for a slightly twisted ankle. 

We found a bat, a ball, and another snake!!  I didn't get a pix of the ball, but it's just a baseball that was in pretty good shape for being on the side of the road.

MR was a good waterboy and kept us hydrated and safe from cars.

Then we helped with the city wide clean up and picked up trash along side of the highway for an hour.

Had lunch, took a little break, and went to town with my p90x yoga.  I was tired by the end of the day!  Went to see Wyatt and her new baby chicks.

Rest

First day of Unit 3 of p90x.  Week 9 is started and we're on our way to finishing up this bad boy.  Chest & back...push ups & pull ups, over & over & over again.

After work, went to physical therapy and learned some new ballistic stretches.  Then MR and I went for a quick run before dinner.  

early morning with plyoX and then a 6 mile run with neighbor.  We were out and saw the sun come up because it was later than when we usually run.  

After work the power was out, so we had to go out to eat :-)

I am finding it very difficult to scrape up the desire to do all the physical therapy exercises they've given me.   It's not just time, but desire.

p90x shoulders and arms, work, and 20 min on elliptical while dinner cooked in the oven.  I saw a beautiful sky this morning driving to seminary.  This pix shows just the beginnings of the magenta color that filled the whole eastern sky.  Beautiful!!

I woke up at 3 am so I could do my p90x yoga and run with my neighbor.  I did almost all the yoga (except the last 23 min of stretching), then we went for a run.  We were going to do 6, but she wanted to keep it short and stay in the hood.  She had blisters that were sore and icky on her feet.  We managed a 9:18 pace.  My garmin quit on me twice during the 4 miles.  I am really sick of it.

After the run, I finished the yoga stretching & yoga belly 7 times.  Then I took a quick 15 minute nap.  So nice.

Physical Therapy wore me out and made me sore.  They had me sweating like a pirate in church on Sunday.

After work and dinner Mr & I went for quick 1 mile walk around the loop.  In bed by 9 and asleep at 9:00:03.

p90x legs & back, then ab ripper x.  I'm almost done with week 9.  Glad it's Friday.  Taking the week-end easy since the Dirty Hog is next week.

http://www.dirtyhog.com/ 

I hope I can move after.

This weekend we went west to the Great Smoky Mountains.  MR, little buccaneer, and I went white water river rafting on Saturday.  The water was cold, but when the sun came out it was just perfect.  I ended up becoming one with the river on a particularly insane rapid.  But like any good pirate I was quickly back on the boat and swore vengeance on any crew member that mocked me.

After an amazing 12 mile and 2 hr 16 min trip down the river, we all had a nice nap on the bus ride back to the condos.

MR and I went for a walk along a bike path/trail around town totaling maybe 3 miles in the evening.  I had time for half the kenpo x before we left, and finished the second half at 9:45 at night.  Oh the things I’ll do for Tony.

MR and I went on an early 2 mile walk around Beech Mtn, which was all hills.  We found a rusty old knife... Treasure #1:

Then on our drive home through Appalachia, we stopped off the side of a winding road to get drinks out of the back of the car, and found treasure #2:

Wire framed bifocals!  These will go great with my bifocal collection.  All I need now is some dentures.  Certainly not something I'll find in Appalachia.

After we got home we took a quick mile walk around the hood and went to bed.

p90x week 10.  Not sure I'd ever really imagined I'd actually stick with it this long.  

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.  Sore again since it's been 2 weeks since I've done it last.

And of course Ab ripper X.  Of course.

Then I went for a quick run around the hood.  9:18  avg pace, but actual times were over 10mm, 9:30mm, and two 8:55 ish miles.

I was so tired when I got back home that I had to take a nap before work.

I had physical therapy in the morning, and decided then I was finished working out for the day.

Plyometrics.  I was sweating like crazy.  Now I'm just exhausted.

I just saw that it's going to be in the 90's on Saturday.  I am not excited about that kind of heat!  66^o was hot enough this morning.

I did my glamour muscle workout (back & biceps), ab ripper, and then went for a quick run.  My watch shut off 6 times in the first .9 miles, so I  don't have perfect results, but I did manage to get an average 9:08 pace for the 2.1 miles it did record.  I'm really sick of this garmin, but all of the reviews on other garmins sound like they're trash too.  All gps watches seem to be built with some huge flaw.

p90x yoga.  Last week when I was doing the crane, I actually had achieved balance and was doing it when the cat came and head-butted me causing me to tip and fall over.  Today when I was trying to do it, I saw that cat out of the corner of my eye, and he was just watching me...I knew he was just waiting.  So he messed with my chi and I wasn't able to get the crane today.  Stupid cat.

after work I felt icky, but had physical therapy so I went and worked out there too.  I got home and was exhaused.  Ate a can of soup and went to bed.

Legs & back, and ab ripper x.  Worried about over-doing it and being sore for Saturday, I  just did 10 of each set on the pull up bar.  

Getting excited for the race tomorrow.

This was advertised as a 9-12 mile run with obstacles that were designed by and tough as special forces selection activities.  It was not either one of those things, but it was lots of fun.  I also don't know how long it really took us, but the blog required me to put a time in the slot, so you get 3.

We arrived 90 minutes before our wave time and went to get our bibs, free bbq wrist band and free beer wrist band.  We got our t-shirts too, but they only had large and xl.  It burns me when I sign up for a certain size when I register and pay for a race and they don't have that size at the pick up site.

I chose to wear my $4 jeggins under my shorts to protect my knees from crawling scratches.  I'd seen video of low crawling under barbed wire and wanted to be prepared for it. 

Here's a pix  before the race:

It was getting hot outside, and after we saw the first wave leave at 9:00, we decided to join the 9:30 wave and get a 30 min head start on the heat for our wave. 

Our team consisted of 4 people:  Mr, MR, my neighbor, and Adams.  Neighbor's hubby was there too, and he ended up running some of it with us, and taking photos the rest of the time.  Here's the crew:

We visited the giant blow up dragon with 2 slides before the run.  It was soooo much fun.  You get to climb up the dragon's back side and slide down it's throat & out of it's mouth, then try the second slide that runs backward & right along the first side.  It was a definite high-light of the morning!

After magic dragon time, we went to the starting line and we were off.  The first obstacle was a cargo net up and down.  There was a back up at the net and a little bit of a wait to get up.  One girl was almost to the top and just stopped dead in her tracks... maybe a fear of heights?  We had to go around her.  Then there was lots of running on hills.  It was at an atv park and we were running on all the little jumps that would be super fun with a dirt bike, but were tough to run.  I was surprised that the course was very, very sandy.  Like super dry, fine, beach sand.  It was tough to run in.  We had tires to jump through, and a big bunch of dirt mounds to go up & down on.  At least 20 feet up & down, and super soft sandy soil.  It was fun.  There was a pile of round hay-bales stacked up like a q-bert game.  The last one coming down the back side was not nice.  I landed on it with both feet together at the same time, but someone had left a hole inside of it, and my right foot twisted & went into the hole.  Some ugly pirate language flew out of my mouth, and I wondered if "game over" was blinking over my head. 

I walked for a while and then was able to run again, so we kept going.  I found as long as I kept running, it was okay, but if I slowed down to walk or stopped, it hurt.  That was one thing that kept me going.  We went over trucks and cars, through a mud pit, through a pit of ice water (felt great on my ankle), through a huge mud pit where neighbor's shoe almost got sucked into the mud and left her shoe-less, over another huge hill, through the woods, and then we stopped at a huge pool of mud that was at the bottom of a 6 foot drop.  We had to jump off the ledge and into the mud pool.  Adams went first and when he jumped in, his head went under the water level.  MR did a cannon-ball in (of course), and when I jumped in, my feet barely hit the bottom, and I was all the way under muddy water.  It was nasty.  Fun, and nice to get cooled off, but nasty!!

Then we headed off for a long run through grasses, rocks, and moon-dusty trails.  This is where neighbor's hubby started running with us in his jorts.  I was glad he was with us when we got to mile 4 and had to push a full sized sedan through a field, around a cone, and back to the start.  He pushed with the rest of us!

We headed through to another obstacle where we had to run while carrying logs.  We got to pick our own log.  I went with a medium sized log.  I saw the tiny one there and thought about Tony & said, "bring it!"  Down another dusty, sandy path, around & through more woods, and then we got to swim across a little bit of water.  It was amazingly wonderful to cool off in the water.  Then we had to take wrist sling shots and each hit 2 out of the 4 paint balls onto the targets across the field.  I had one of the paint balls burst in my hand.. crap.  But our team managed, and we went on to more mud pits, barbed wire (with a mud pit under it, so no jeggins needed), hills, fields, more mud.  At one point I fell in the mud pit and started laughing so hard I couldn't get up.  Team mates had to come drag me out of the mud.  The great part of the mud was it worked as a great sun-screen.  And later a nice exfoliant!

There was a huge dried up mud pit.. wondered where all the water had gone.  It was supposed to be the 300 yard mud pit, but instead it was a dried up 300 yard pit.  We got to do a tire flip across a field.  Half the team flipped it down, the other half flipped it back.  Then there was a short loop we had to run with a sand back thrown over our back.  It felt super heavy to me, but MR says it's only 25 pounds.  Whatever...I think it was 48 pounds.  This was where the army kids kicked my butt.  They're used to running with extra weight on their backs, and I am NOT.  I nearly got run over by neighbor & her hubby.  Tony let me down on this one :-)

We had passed mile 6 about 15 minutes earlier, and we were looking for where to keep running, because we could see the finish line.  It was supposed to be 9-12 miles so we knew there was still more ahead for us, but after asking the others who were at the showers we were next to, and after consulting the map, we realized we were at the end.  There was only one more obstacle left...the burning hay bales, and then we were done.  We couldn't figure out what had happened.   Evidently the course wasn't what they'd said it would be.  We weren't the only ones disappointed by the short-changed distance. 

The hay bales were burning on the sides of the trail.  They made a lot of smoke, but I wasn't sure what their purpose was.  At the Warrior Dash last year, we at least got to jump over the burning stuff.  It was good to be finished, but I was a little let down that it wasn't as rigorous as it has been advertised as. 

We were certainly dirty hogs at the end.  Here's some "after" photos:

We showered off and got the free beverage offered to the "mature" runners.  I'm not mature enough for those beverages and had to have a cup of water they'd poured out because gatorade was $3 a bottle. :-(

The web site promoted that each runner would get a bbq pulled pork sandwich, a beverage, a free hug from a "hog girl."  I chose to not get a beverage, I was relieved to not get a hug, but I was seriously let down when my pulled pork "bbq" turned into a choice of a hamburger or 2 hot dogs and a bag of chips.  This is the south, and you do not dangle bbq in people's face and not deliver bbq.  Some things are not negotiable.   

The employees were all yankees from up north, as was evident by their New York/Jersey accents and their blatent lack  of respect for BBQ.  If I knew who was responsible for the choice of food, I would have had someone walking the plank.

That being said, I had a lot of fun.  I would prefer doing this to running on the road any day.  My neighbor feels differently.  We'll just have to agree to disagree.  I am looking forward to our Warrior Dash coming up later this month.  I've done it before, and even though it's only 3 miles, the obstacles are super tough and really are more of a tough course than this one.  I started p90x as a way to prepare for this race.  I thought it was going to challenge me in ways I wasn't ready for.  I see now that I didn't need to do the p90x, but I don't regret doing it.  I've got 3 more weeks left to finish the program, and I'm going to see it through.

However, I didn't do kenpo today because my ankle is sore.  I'll try it tomorrow.  If not, one day off won't be the end of the world. 

Cankle

Cankle still holding on... I was able to do the full p90x chest & back video without any problems.  Ab ripper was fine too.

After work, physical therapy.  No problems doing any of the exercises.  The PTherapist said give the ankle a couple more days.  I can do that.

Cankles just won't go away!!  I didn't think plyo was a good option.  I almost did the cardio, but I just didn't want to mess up my ankle recovery, so I did an hour on the elliptical. I feel like I'm a failure without doing my p90x.  Maybe I'll do the core synergestics tonight.

Got fiesty at work being frustrated with a little "helper" who took my keys home, so when I got home I had to punch it out with my p90x kenpo.  It was good since I didn't do it on Saturday maybe I can catch up.

Cankles are still a little puffy, but feeling good.  Funny strange bruise on the inside bottom of my foot above the heel.  Doesn't hurt at all, so why not just keep going?

I did the cardio x to try out my ankle, and it was pretty good so I'm feeling positive about running tomorrow.  Followed up with the shoulders & arms and then ab ripper X.

Now I'm caught up on my p90x videos from missing Saturday and Tuesday.  Feeling pretty good, and excited to run.  After not running since Saturday, I'm getting a bit cranky.  My office name today is "Mrs. Prissy Pot."

I finally got some miles in!!  First I did 70 minutes of the yoga video, and when it was time for the stretches, I went out for my run.  I'd considered doing 6, but thought 4 would be better to not over do it on my ankle.  And I realized if I did 4, I might have time for a quick nap.  So 4 it is!

My watch was KO'd, which was nice to not worry about time & pace.  The moon was extra lovely, the dipper ready to scoop me up.  Birds were already chirping in the dark of 5 am.   They kept me company and sang to me along the way.  I felt a little like Uncle Remus!

I came home, did 20 minutes on the elliptical to finish up an hour of run/elliptical time, and then finished up the last 23 minutes of the yoga video with the stretching.  A quick shower and I had time for an 11 minute nap.  Just right :-)

It was so super duper extra wonderful to run again.  I feel like I can do anything now.  I left Prissy Pot at home, and it's just the QP today.  And today is a very special day- it's chili dog & snowcone day.

I'm a little like Stanley on "The Office" when it comes to chili dog & snowcone day... I feel like Stanley on pretzel day.  I even dressed up nice today just in anticipation of the special day.  The principal arranges for a local restaurant to bring their roach coach out the school and they serve us hot dogs, chili, cole-slaw (for the hot dog since this is the south), onion, relish & all the fixins.  They also have a shaved ice machine and make us delicious snow cones.  My favorite- pina colada (gotta bring my own Captain).

So hooray for chili dog & snowcone day!!

p90x legs & back, and ab ripper x

quads are a little sore..wonder if it's from the run yesterday?  strange.

Adventure run with Wyatt & MR.  I haven't run with Wyatt in so long, and we had a lot to talk about.  It was so nice to be out with her again. 

The end of the week of eating junk and cake and nothing much good for me.  I had zero energy on this run.  At mile 1.8 I was light headed and ready to quit.  I pushed myself to finish 2, and then made the rest of the crew walk with me until I got my act together again.  It took .5 mile before I was ready to run again.  I'm sure glad we didn't stop and turn around to go home because the adventures were just around the corner.

First we saw this little guy.  He looks like he's ready to clench his jaws into something...

We had just passed this fella when we ran across the path of Kujo & Diablo.

There were lounging in the yard and when we ran by (across the street on the opposite side of the road), Kujo ran out in full attack mode at MR.  Using my "deer in the headlight" skills, I stood there and yelled "DOG!"   MR was able to fend off the dog, Wyatt was screaming at the dog owners (who were no where to be seen), and I just stood there....

Finally I realized I had my pepper spray and started back toward MR and the dogs.  I got some in Kujo's direction and she backed off for a while.  Wyatt got on the phone and called animal control and got to leave a message on their answering machine.  Twice.  She called 911, and they told her their officers do not deal with animals.  A neighbor 2 doors down came out of her trailer and asked if we were calling about the dogs.  Evidently the night before they'd come up to her car when she'd pulled in her driveway and wouldn't let her out of her car (with a baby in the car too).  The sheriff's office told her they didn't come out for animals and she could just "do what she needed to" to get in her house.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  

2 pit bulls running loose and attacking people, and the law enforcement will do nothing, and animal control isn't open on Saturday or Sunday.  Something is wrong with this picture.  So here's a picture... It's not a great one, because I wasn't getting close enough for a glamour shot, but here they are: (their house is the one you can see on the right).

Those owners need to be slapped. 

Later I went to prom.  It was marvelous.  I got to work at the check-in desk and see all the beautiful girls in their dresses and the boys in their tuxes.  I didn't dance, because I realized I didn't know how to dance like kids do these days.  Their dance is more what I'd call buffing the wood.  I did get to embarrass my little buccaneer at the end of the night, and that is always a pleasure. 

What an adventure.

Happy Mother's Day!

I slept in till noon.  Acutally I was woken up at 9 am for a wonderful breakfast that MR made me, and I enjoyed every morsel of it, then I just laid down and went back to sleep till noon.  It was lovely.  I felt a little guilty because I didn't do my kenpo yesterday, and I wasn't going to get it done this morning either.  But I didn't get to bed till 2 am, so I just let myself sleep.

After church, my sweet buccaneer surprised me with home make chocolate covered strawberries!  YUM!!  Maybe kenpo will have to wait another day or two :-)

I slept so much yesterday and last night that I was suprised I didn't wake up before my alarm clock went off.  I guess I was really tired.

I did Kenpo (left over from Saturday when I didn't make time to do it), then chest, shoulders & triceps.  That was a tough workout for me today.  Too many push-ups.  Then I finished up with the ab ripper x.  I'm so happy I only have 2 more ab ripper videos to do before I finish the program.  Only 2 more to go!!!

I'll do physical therapy tonight, which always makes me sweaty and tired.  That should be good enough for one day.

plyo x.   

Headaches are getting old.

Glamor muscles with Tony.  Last week before the recovery phase.  Getting close to the end!

Ab ripper and 30 minutes on elliptical.

yoga, yoga belly 7 times.  Don't do ab exercises every day, you don't work other muscles every day, and you shouldn't work abs every day.  Shut up Tony.

PT in the afternoon.  They've decided they've done all they can do, and now it's up to me to have the self discipline to do their 45 minutes of exercises every day to continue to improve & strengthen while I wait for piriformis to heal.  I just don't see myself being that disciplined.

Pirate's Birthday Today

Legs & Back & Ab Ripper X.  This is the last ab ripper in the program.  I tried to work extra hard for Tony on this one :-)

Someone asked me today how it was coming with the program, and I said "only one week left to finish!"  She asked me if I was really going to just stop doing it when the 90 days was up.  No doubt in my mind.  Yes... I am going to quit Tony like bad habit. 

Cupcakes, Cake, home made ice cream.  I did manage to squeeze in a pb&j sandwich and some snap peas too.  Carb loading for the big run tomorrow.  Gonna be GGGRRREEEAAATT!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  So here's a few thousand words...

The day of the big race... just before show time:

And of course after....

By the way, a wet wedding dress is very heavy.  Just in case you were wondering.  I really have no idea what our actual time was.  MR ran behind me and carried the train as we jumped over the fire.  A lady approached us later & showed us a great photo she'd taken of it.  She took down our email address & said she would send it to us.  I'm hoping we get it because it was great.   The mud was tough.  It was too shallow to drag myself through, so I ended up doing the "superman" (Thank you Tony) and MR just shoved me along the entire mud pit.  I just laid there and laughed.

Then, right before the finish line, he picked me up and carried me across the finish line.  I know I was heavy in that dress.  Some guys from behind us were there trying to help.  It was great.  We had so much fun taking photos for people.  The whole time we were there, people would approach & ask us to get our photo, or take a photo with us.  It was really neat. 

There was a costume contest, and depending on who you ask, we took first or second place.  The other first place winners were 2 guys dressed like mario & luigi and one guy dressed up like the peach princess.  On the stage, the 2 men poured a beer over the princess' chest & face while she undressed herself and rubbed "her" chest.  So there was a lot of cheering for that, and I wasn't going to compete with that.  After the contest, people came up & said "you were robbed!" and then offered us their timing chips with the free beer coupon on it.  MR had lots of free beer, so he's pretty sure that he's the real winner.  I just got to smile & model for the camera all day, so I'm feeling pretty special too.  Best part was, there wasn't any cheese involved :-)

My "bubbles" girls from work came & ran the race too.  They both ran with their husbands, and we all had a really good time.  But the best part of the day was the kiss...

This wedding party beat the pants off our first one almost 20 years ago.  Not sure how we'll top it in another 20 years, but we've got some time to come up with something really good.

Last week of p90x!  Yoga in the morning.

Core Synergestics

Lowering the flags on the pirate ship to half mast this week.

packed, worked, flew to zion.  No time for Tony today.

Got to do 2 workouts today.  Kenpo and stretch video.  My heart wasn't in either of them, but I was glad when they were done.

Glad RAD had the videos, but even happier when she took me to the cookie shop.  The only thing that is better than finishing 2 videos and having a cookie is getting to visit Smooth!

Smooth is by far one of the most amazing, inspirational ladies I know.  I am so glad I got to visit with her.  I'll be looking forward to running with her in July. I just hope I can keep up with her!

I tried to run.  My lungs felt like they were on fire, and I was so grateful for the stop lights that made me have to wait & get a little break every mile.

Went to RAD's house for another session of core synergestics.  It was fun playing superman banana with Fartlek!

Most amazing run with RAD.  Urban Trail Loop is amazing, and I have fallen in love with it.  So much to see, such a beautiful run.  I did my best to make sure that RAD didn't run too fast, so she could have a proper recover run :-)

I wish we could run it every morning.

Then, best news ever- p90x yoga day 89!!  Tomorrow is a rest day, so I am done!

Free at last, free at last, good-bye Tony; I'm free at last!!

I think I burned as many calories laughing during dinner and bowling as I did running.  RAD is always good for a fun time!

RAD and Kelli are amazing runners.  Kelli is the queen of the hills- I can't believe she runs that corridor on a regular basis.  I can't believe RAD ran it after a 20 mile bike ride.

I tried running it and it was a beast!  The mountain view corridor will always haunt me as the hills that kicked my rear.   The only reason I had any will at all to continue running was that the view was amazing and spectacular, and the company was too good!

Thank you both for a wonderful Memorial Day run.  It was like playing with the big kids & I appreciate you letting me tag along.

After getting drug up the hills of despair yesterday by the sister who shall remain nameless, I knew my knees, hip, ankle, and leg muscles all needed a day off of running to recover.  

I  went for a spin on the recumbent bike.  I went for an hour and managed 16 miles.  A couple of good hill sections to make me glad when they were over.

Then a walk through the cemetery to visit a wonderful man who had bigger fish to catch in heaven.  I'll miss you Don.

slow

Got to use my new garmin today.  I thought it was a Piece of C*** because it was showing my miles at 10% longer than actually run.  It wasn't until I got home and had a closer look that I realized it was the calories I was looking at, not the miles.  I hadn't re-set my windows to show the things the way I liked them, and it was actually working just fine.

Oh bother.  

8:47 avg pace.  Pretty sunrise.

Shred level 1- 20 minutes is so much better than an hour!

Quick run around the block.

easier run today effort wise

I saw a dead smeared snake in the road, and a beautiful sunrise.  Feeling nice today, so no dead snake pix........

Ptown run to the light & back, followed by a rousing session of Shred level 1.  Trying to work out the soreness from doing shred on Tuesday.

Rode my bike 8.3 miles to work.  I'll ride it home too- not sure what my miles will be...just depends on my mood & where it takes me before it takes me home.

9.27 mile ride home.

This run did not go as well as planned.  I'm blaming my new garmin.

Started out a little to late in the day, so it was warmer than I would have liked.  Got my garmin up and headed out.  After the first mile beep, I looked at my pace and it said 10:32.  I was really surprised because I thought I was running faster than that, but hey- first miles can be slow, so I just tried to pick up the pace a little more and went on to mile 2.  When I finally got to mile 2, I was exhaused and over-heated so I stopped to walk a little.  My pace for mile 2 said: 10:41.  WHAT?  I know I wasn't running that slow!  I looked at my watch closer and noticed that the spot where my pace should have been was actually the spot where the time was.  Ohhhhh dear.  I'd been running sub 9 in the heat.  Too fast for me.  I decided to just run slower and walk when I needed to because I was ready to quit.  After mile 3, I stopped to check my pace and realized I didn't have my auto pace lap thing set up, so all I had was an overall pace of 9:19.  At that point, I quit running and stood in the shade to fix that stupid watch.  It took me a long time to figure it all out, and MR called me to say he was on his way home.  I asked him to come pick me up when he got back home because it was too hot and I'd overdone it already.  I knew he was 25-30 minutes away and I figured I could manage that.

I ran the next mile at a 10:05, then ran the rest between a 9:50-9:30 pace.  I stopped to walk once up the little hill.  At one point, there was a turkey buzzard eating a raccoon on the side of the road and when I ran up to him, he didn't even bother flying away.  I was in such bad shape, I wasn't even a threat to the little buzzard.  He was probably planning on following me for his next meal.

I was keeping a close watch on the time, because I knew MR was coming soon.  Every car that came into view I thought, "this must be him....nope...not him."  45 minutes later he calls, "do you want me to come get you?"  I was NOT in a good place, and I yelled at him, "WHAT takes 45 minutes???  WHAT????"

When he finally shows up, I'd run 7 miles and walked a total of one mile+.  He offers me some soda (my water was long gone), and I realized he was late because he'd stopped at the store.  At which point I yelled at him for going to the store instead of coming to save me.  I fussed at him the whole way home inbetween my tears and breathing.

We pull into the driveway and he reaches behind the seat to give me a bouquet of flowers.  "I got these for you" he said.  Well, who's the jerk now?  Yep- me. 

Lessons learned:

1-sleeping in on Saturday is nice, but it's summer time and too hot to run after 9 am. 

2-Don't yell at someone for stopping at the store until you know exactly what they stopped for.

3-Figure out which square has the time of day and which square has the pace in it before running 2 miles and killing myself.

The snooze button vs the Off button.  Today, Off button won.

MR said "5 more minutes."  An hour later I jerk out of bed, yelling that it's late and MR is really late, and now there's no time for a run. 

I was going to ride my bike to work, but realized it was really raining.  So I did a quick Shred level 1 video.  When it was over I looked outside and saw that it had quit raining, so I got bike stuff ready super quick and left for work.  I had to take the fastest route there to make it on time, but I pulled in with 5 minutes to spare.

It took me 30 minutes to get ready for work after I was there, but school is out so it wasn't a big deal.  I hope it's not raining in the afternoon.  It is already super humid outside so it'll be a sweat fest on the way home.

pm- rainstorm came like a mother and wouldn't stop.  Had to bum a ride home from Wyatt.  

Didn't do a dag-gum thing.  But here are some fabulous photos from my run a couple weeks ago:

I think this one above was a squirrel.  The one below was a snake that was dead, but I didn't know it was dead until MR convinced me otherwise.  When I ran upon him, his head was in the road facing me.  The bright orange is his belly, but I didn't know that at the time.  I just had a big black and orange snake laying in the road waiting to kill me.  Now when I run by him, he's just shriveling up and in a little wad on the grass.  None of the scavengers seem interested in eating him.

I tried running my 9 mile loop again today.  The one that I epically failed on last Saturday.  I didn't fail quite as much today, but I wouldn't consider it a success.

I started out just after 7:30, but it was already hot and humid, so I did have to take a few cool down walk breaks.  I would walk back the way I had come so I'd get a little extra mileage in and have a good long cool-down at the end.

With 3 miles left, I was running low on water and the heat was kicking into high gear.  I went a 1/4 mile out of my way to stop at a friend's house to beg for water out of her hose.  I actually scored some cold fridge water instead, and it was a welcome relief.  I'm going to have to leave some water bottles out on my routes ahead of time if I run anything over 6 miles.  I sweat so much that I need to hydrate often.  Sweaty pirates like to drink- got that?

got out early, it was so nice and cool.  The sun was getting warm on my way back, but the breeze was blowing in my face and made it nice.

progressive run.  Not super fast, just right.  

So glad school is out for the summer!

yardwork for a couple hours.  Weeding for most of it.  Why do I spend my first official day of summer weeding?  Old habits die hard.

MR was sick today, so I just used that as my excuse to not exercise.  I wouldn't want to make him look bad just sitting around all day by himself.

I'd typed something up, but it disappeared when I tried to post it.

It was a good run, shade &/or breeze almost the whole time.  MR rode the bike and made sure I had plenty to drink.

Nice 2 mile walk in the hood after a father's day dinner and before a father's day cheesecake.

Ran with the waterboy on his bike.  He had the day off for some reason I'm not really clear on.  Didn't care- it was just nice to have him around.

Did shred level 1 at home, then we went hiking at Raven Rock State Park.  The "Raven Rock" was rather un-spectacular, but we found another trail that went to an old pre-civil war lock & dam area, and since the Cape Fear river was low, we were able to wander out in the middle of the river on some big rocks.  The cold water felt great on the tootsies.

 Raven Rock- (the cliffs on the top)

The rocky remains of the lock & dam:

Looking upstream from the rock in the middle of the river..

Tried some speedier miles this morning, so kept the miles lower.  It is starting to get hot & humid this week, and it was already icky at 8 am.  I had a breeze most of the time, but I could tell it wasn't as comfortable as my run yesterday.

The run went fine, but about 15 minutes after the run, my knee was bothering me.  So I babied it the rest of the day, ate Thai food for lunch (always good for healing), and took a nap.  I love summer vacation.

Plans for a morning bike ride got put on hold because we didn't have time after doing everything we had to do.  Win some, lose some.  

MR and I did lots of driving, and were able to stop and do some exploring at a couple of state parks throughout the day.  

Cliffs of the Neuse State Park was interesting.  We took the short little observation point trail and it ended on the river.  We looked all around for the "cliffs," but couldn't see any.  There were signs warning us that rock climbing and repelling were not allowed, but there was only 4 feet elevation difference between the sign and the river level 10 yards away down a gradual slope.  We took a 3 mile hike and eventually ended up back near the parking lot, where we noticed there was a little bit of a drop off that could be considered a "cliff" into the water.  It was a relief to see that there was a cliff somewhere in the park!  We'd just seen The Princess Bride the night before and were almost convinced these were the cliffs of the insane, and didn't actually exist...inconceivable!

We drove more to Fort Macon State Park along the shore.  It was used in the Civil, Spanish American, and World War II.  Pretty neat to see and walk around.

18 mile bike ride from one end of "pleasure island" to the other & back.  We went through and saw some of the "old" Ft Fisher and found a CVS store for medicine and gummy worms.

Took an awesome afternoon siesta and then spent a few hours on the beach.  Body surfing was fun until the waves crashing became so forceful that it yanked my swim top and sports bra up under my armpits leaving me panicked in a frothy mess of bubbles and sand.  I went and hung out on the beach after that with my clothes on properly, like a good pirate!

Watched the sun set over the Cape Fear river.  Spectacular!