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

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.