28 February 2009
Trial run
This morning the Cruisers invaded Little Rock to run the 1/2 marathon route (a couple did the 5k, others ran slightly shorter, and a few ran longer). Great turnout, I think Ms. Vicki emailed that we had 24 runners and 3 cyclists. James agreed to ride along to help make sure everybody was ok and I think he had a pretty good time himself even if it was COLD. Starting temp was 39F with a windchill of 31 and it went downhill from that point. Little bit of light rain, occasional sleet, and just a tad bit of snowflakes but it was fun anyway! How can it not be with this group of people?!
Vicki (a different Vicki) started having stomach problems so I fell back with her and we made a pitstop at a firestation (woo-hoo cute firemen!). They were more than happy to let us utilize the facilites (a very clean unisex bathroom, I was impressed) and even wanted to chat for a moment afterwards about the upcoming marathon. The three we spoke to are also going to run the 1/2. Fortunately my tummy decided to behave today.
I only had 12 miles scheduled, ended up with 12.89 running and 2.41 walking with Vicki back to the Clinton Library. Her walk is faster than some people run so it definitely counts as aerobic (she's a fast runner too, her time last year in the LR 1/2 was 2:03 WITH porta-potty stops!).
Finished up the morning with brunch at Boulevard Bread--I had mexican soup and James had the greek sampler, delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I got to browse through the library's used book-store across the road, fantastic people over there. If it had been warmer and if I could have had a trip to Sephora this would have qualified as a near perfect day. Well, throw in a chocolate croissant and a motorcycle ride (but only if it was 80F) while I'm talking dream days, LOL.
I don't think she reads my blog but if you do "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE!"
February recap
Run: 124.3 miles
Cycling: 49.2
Rainy Friday
Ok, it's only been a week since I started taking a multi-vitamin and Osteo-biflex (spelling?) but I swear I think I feel better already. It probably doesn't hurt that I've started cleaning up my diet again (no more angry whoppers Brenda!). Woke up this morning around 0530 and felt GOOD, it's been a while since that has happened and I even had a tough workout yesterday. The only twinges I'm feeling right now are my toes from the very wet race last Saturday--tips are still tender, owie.
What is it about Fridays that brings out the worst in everybody's driving behaviour? Combine a Friday with rain and hoo-boy, watch out!!!!!! I had several motorists that would be merging--oops, wait a minute, I don't think you can call it merging if they get to the end of the ramp and slam on their brakes. I won't share the colorful language I was using for a large part of the day, LOL. Just imagine being in a very large vehicle with a top speed of 64.5 mph, traffic on your left, on wet roads with a very light load (~4000 lbs) and having to brake hard because the car in front of you that was traveling at a speed greater than 65 mph decides that the tractor-trailer distance between you is not enough room for them to merge in even though they are already half in the lane with you. Or better yet, pretend you're in the middle lane on I-440 and you have a pickup merge in from the right all the way to said center lane doing 10 mph less than the surrounding traffic. Yeah, I had a fun drive today ;-).
What is it about Fridays that brings out the worst in everybody's driving behaviour? Combine a Friday with rain and hoo-boy, watch out!!!!!! I had several motorists that would be merging--oops, wait a minute, I don't think you can call it merging if they get to the end of the ramp and slam on their brakes. I won't share the colorful language I was using for a large part of the day, LOL. Just imagine being in a very large vehicle with a top speed of 64.5 mph, traffic on your left, on wet roads with a very light load (~4000 lbs) and having to brake hard because the car in front of you that was traveling at a speed greater than 65 mph decides that the tractor-trailer distance between you is not enough room for them to merge in even though they are already half in the lane with you. Or better yet, pretend you're in the middle lane on I-440 and you have a pickup merge in from the right all the way to said center lane doing 10 mph less than the surrounding traffic. Yeah, I had a fun drive today ;-).
26 February 2009
Tempo run accomplished
I finally found a flat and safe place to run in Laredo--the perimeter of Mall del Norte. Boring as hell but like I said it's flat and there are other people about exercising. There are actually runners in Laredo! I was seriously wondering if everybody there just did the treadmill thing because you rarely saw anybody out.
I finally managed to get a decent tempo run in this morning, I was having my doubts about ever being able to get one done at any mileage over 3. It was overcast this morning but HUMID--I was completely soaked before I was 1/2 through. Felt great once I was done, a huge sense of accomplishment for sticking it out (considered quitting a couple of times, lol!).
Didn't get dispatched until after lunch even though there were Mt. Juliet loads on the yard last night. Oh well, gave me time to recover from this morning. I'm currently waiting south of San Antonio so I can say hi to James in person before heading on north and it will give the I35 rush-hour traffic time to calm down. Hopefully James will get dispatched tonight and be headed back north too. Not going to wait for him because I need to get up to Bald Knob before all the parking spots are filled, I'll just drive the pickup back down to NLR to get him (his truck needs servicing).
Oh man, a Carter Express o/o just backed in on my passenger side but instead of parking normally he has taken up 2.5 spots, some of these guys are just rude.
It's absolutely beautiful right now, near 90 F, and sunshiny. Yeah I know it sucks for exercising but for just walking around it's fantastic.
I finally managed to get a decent tempo run in this morning, I was having my doubts about ever being able to get one done at any mileage over 3. It was overcast this morning but HUMID--I was completely soaked before I was 1/2 through. Felt great once I was done, a huge sense of accomplishment for sticking it out (considered quitting a couple of times, lol!).
Didn't get dispatched until after lunch even though there were Mt. Juliet loads on the yard last night. Oh well, gave me time to recover from this morning. I'm currently waiting south of San Antonio so I can say hi to James in person before heading on north and it will give the I35 rush-hour traffic time to calm down. Hopefully James will get dispatched tonight and be headed back north too. Not going to wait for him because I need to get up to Bald Knob before all the parking spots are filled, I'll just drive the pickup back down to NLR to get him (his truck needs servicing).
Oh man, a Carter Express o/o just backed in on my passenger side but instead of parking normally he has taken up 2.5 spots, some of these guys are just rude.
It's absolutely beautiful right now, near 90 F, and sunshiny. Yeah I know it sucks for exercising but for just walking around it's fantastic.
Title, I don't need no steenking title
Quick update, laid over in Laredo at least overnight. My runs have been plagued with tummy issues this week, I think it's due to the hummus that I've been consuming. My favorite brand has changed the recipe and I guess my body has decided that it's not going to adjust, blech. Any suggestions for a quick easy protein fix would be most welcome, I'm just about peanut-buttered out for the time being.
On the food subject, I'm loving, loving, loving having a microwave on the truck. Tonight's supper will be a baked potato with salsa, mmmm.
What I didn't love this week was having to drive through Dallas because my fuel optimization plan had me fueling at Caddo Mills. Basically it's go-go-go, oops hard brake, go-go-go, stopping again for no apparent reason. yeah, haven't missed the DFW traffic one little bit since I found my shortcut. On the upside, diesel was $1.97/gallon at the Pilot in Caddo Mills.
Monday, James and I rode one loop at the Searcy mountain bike trails, approx. 4 miles. Doesn't sound like much but it's a tough trail and my legs were still tired from the weekend. Plus I had to leave out for TN that afternoon so didn't have much time.
Tuesday, after dropping and hooking at Mount Juliet (and visiting, everybody wanted to know where I was at the previous week) I drove back to Hurricane Mills for what was supposed to have been a 5 miler--turned out to be a 4.5 mile run instead because of the aforementioned digestive problems. Except for that it was a great run, overcast and in the high 40s/low 50s F so didn't freeze or burn up and Elsie was enjoying herself. On the way back I met another truckdriver who was actually giving his dog a real walk. It's so unusual to find that, he even commented about how odd it was to find somebody else exercising their dog. One of these days I need to video Elsie while she's bouncing, it's hilarious.
Today, started to leave out for a 5 mile run without Elsie at Mt. Vernon, TX but she wasn't having any part of that. She started crying so loudly that I could hear her almost .10 miles away, had to turn around and get her. I was worried because part of my route was going to be next to the freeway and she usually doesn't deal well with the loud traffic noise but she did fine. I had to cut it short because of the stupid stomach issues (3 miles). I'd gotten an early enough start this morning that I just decided to get south of San Antonio and try again esp. since I'd already found out that I wasn't going to have a trailer. Pearsall was my 2nd try of the day and you guessed it, problems again but it was within the first .25 mile so just ran back to the fuel stop and was ok after that. Ended up with 3.3 miles + a 3/10 mile cool-down walk. It was a bit warm (over 80F) and humid so I had a very red face for a while, even after my shower.
Tomorrow I have 8 miles scheduled with a tempo run in the middle so I guess I'm going out to the mall and run loops around it. Should be fairly safe and will be flat so hopefully I won't have any problems.
On the food subject, I'm loving, loving, loving having a microwave on the truck. Tonight's supper will be a baked potato with salsa, mmmm.
What I didn't love this week was having to drive through Dallas because my fuel optimization plan had me fueling at Caddo Mills. Basically it's go-go-go, oops hard brake, go-go-go, stopping again for no apparent reason. yeah, haven't missed the DFW traffic one little bit since I found my shortcut. On the upside, diesel was $1.97/gallon at the Pilot in Caddo Mills.
Monday, James and I rode one loop at the Searcy mountain bike trails, approx. 4 miles. Doesn't sound like much but it's a tough trail and my legs were still tired from the weekend. Plus I had to leave out for TN that afternoon so didn't have much time.
Tuesday, after dropping and hooking at Mount Juliet (and visiting, everybody wanted to know where I was at the previous week) I drove back to Hurricane Mills for what was supposed to have been a 5 miler--turned out to be a 4.5 mile run instead because of the aforementioned digestive problems. Except for that it was a great run, overcast and in the high 40s/low 50s F so didn't freeze or burn up and Elsie was enjoying herself. On the way back I met another truckdriver who was actually giving his dog a real walk. It's so unusual to find that, he even commented about how odd it was to find somebody else exercising their dog. One of these days I need to video Elsie while she's bouncing, it's hilarious.
Today, started to leave out for a 5 mile run without Elsie at Mt. Vernon, TX but she wasn't having any part of that. She started crying so loudly that I could hear her almost .10 miles away, had to turn around and get her. I was worried because part of my route was going to be next to the freeway and she usually doesn't deal well with the loud traffic noise but she did fine. I had to cut it short because of the stupid stomach issues (3 miles). I'd gotten an early enough start this morning that I just decided to get south of San Antonio and try again esp. since I'd already found out that I wasn't going to have a trailer. Pearsall was my 2nd try of the day and you guessed it, problems again but it was within the first .25 mile so just ran back to the fuel stop and was ok after that. Ended up with 3.3 miles + a 3/10 mile cool-down walk. It was a bit warm (over 80F) and humid so I had a very red face for a while, even after my shower.
Tomorrow I have 8 miles scheduled with a tempo run in the middle so I guess I'm going out to the mall and run loops around it. Should be fairly safe and will be flat so hopefully I won't have any problems.
22 February 2009
Cabot Cruisers at the RiverTrail 15k
Group photo of some of the Cruisers at the Rivertrail 15k awards ceremony taken by Melisha's husband.
The white mugs were the awards--very cool! Please ignore the fluffy hair and red face. My hair was soaked and I forgot to put some gel on it after pulling it out of the ponytail. I'm the one in the pink hoodie, btw.
Familiar trails
Last Tuesday I made my first pickup at Pulaski in almost 2 months, felt like homecoming. Deanna is back to work but for only 2 days a week right now and they still haven't called Terry back because it's so slow. I missed my Pulaski runs--both truck and workout but I think I've gotten to where I prefer the Mt. Juliet because it gets out earlier in the morning. Although it's still slow coming back out of Laredo, blech. I think we'll be alternating the pickups in TN until things (if they do) stabilize a bit more because I've got a M.J. for this week.
I finally have an a.p.u. on my truck!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy about having a coffee maker and microwave in my truck it's almost ridiculous. No more having to deal with instant coffee or (EEEK) doing without for half the day. AND I can make my own oatmeal. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent bowl of oatmeal in a restaurant anymore? I will also be able to have a little more variety in my diet now. I'm very, very, very sick of Subway veggie sandwiches but unfortunately it's about the healthiest, quickest choice usually available.
It was a fall-back week on the running schedule thank goodness. My legs were so trashed from last weekend that when James and I went mountain biking Monday afternoon I spent about 25% of the time walking the bike up the hills. Also didn't do the pushups last week. Will start again with week 5 tomorrow or Monday. The new rest areas at Salado have monkey bars and a bench for situps so I decided to try some chin-ups. Wed. I did 6 counting the first one that is basically momentum and Friday I did 7, woo-hoo, the pushup are working! Skipped the plyometrics this week too(again my legs WERE trashed). Tomorrow will be an easy 4-5 mile run with James in the morning, then hope to join Gary R. for a 20 mile ride in the afternoon. Maybe it won't be too cold.
I finally have an a.p.u. on my truck!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy about having a coffee maker and microwave in my truck it's almost ridiculous. No more having to deal with instant coffee or (EEEK) doing without for half the day. AND I can make my own oatmeal. Do you know how hard it is to get a decent bowl of oatmeal in a restaurant anymore? I will also be able to have a little more variety in my diet now. I'm very, very, very sick of Subway veggie sandwiches but unfortunately it's about the healthiest, quickest choice usually available.
It was a fall-back week on the running schedule thank goodness. My legs were so trashed from last weekend that when James and I went mountain biking Monday afternoon I spent about 25% of the time walking the bike up the hills. Also didn't do the pushups last week. Will start again with week 5 tomorrow or Monday. The new rest areas at Salado have monkey bars and a bench for situps so I decided to try some chin-ups. Wed. I did 6 counting the first one that is basically momentum and Friday I did 7, woo-hoo, the pushup are working! Skipped the plyometrics this week too(again my legs WERE trashed). Tomorrow will be an easy 4-5 mile run with James in the morning, then hope to join Gary R. for a 20 mile ride in the afternoon. Maybe it won't be too cold.
Thieves, Liars
Grrrr, James and I drove up to Bald Knob this afternoon to move our trucks to the fuel stop that we normally park at and found out that some ignorant, lazy, *ssholes decided to break into our trailers. I had a normal metal seal on mine this week instead of the usual cable seal thank goodness because the jerks didn't have bolt cutters and busted up part of the door on James' trailer. Absolutely nothing of value in our trailers on our hauls out of Laredo, just empty racks and we don't park there on our way out of TN for this reason. This just pisses me off to no end, I can't abide a thief. We weren't parked at the usual place because Oakley is now using it as a staging area overnight from where they're hauling out of the Fayetteville Shale and if you don't get there before sundown you're not getting a parking spot. Even at 10 pm last night there wasn't a spot to be found. Excuse me, while I go fume for a while longer...........
21 February 2009
New age group and the Rivertrail 15k
Turned the big 4-0 today.........So how does a crazy, middle-aged female truckdriver celebrate? Well, this one ran a 15k race (Rivertrail 15k) in a cold rain, brrrr! I am completely wiped out so there will be no partying tonight. I'm having trouble adjusting to having to drive all day Friday then getting up on early on Saturdays to compete in the races. I need to find a good multi-vitamin and actually take the damn things once I buy them. Not getting laid over in Laredo would also help with the energy and recovery issue. I can do ok with not having a day off before the events but I'm not accomplishing them in the times that I want. And yes, I realize that most people do have to work the day before but most of the time it's not where they're having to sit behind the wheel for 2-3 hours at a time up to 11 hours a day. Oh gosh, I sound like a whiner, let's just leave it at that I'm not getting enough sleep before a race.
Anyway back to the 15k. Did I mention that it was cold? and rainy? Yeah, there's the whining again, lol! I can handle cold or rain but both is just plain miserable. It's a beautiful course, very scenic, and it's long enough that if you're a middle of the packer like me people are more apt to talk and joke around. I started out with Brenda, Cindy, and Robert but it wasn't long before Brenda and Robert started pulling away (Brenda is a very strong, consistent runner and I have no doubt that she will Boston qualify within the next 1-2 years).
Tried to drink at the first water stop while still running and it ended up going up my nose! Within 2 paces I had a stitch where it messed up my breathing pattern. Slowed down a bit to allow the stitch to go away then tried to resume my pace with mixed results. The crowd had thinned out by now so from here on it was just try and catch the person in front of me and try not to allow people behind me to pass--I did get passed a few times but not an extreme amount. I had been shadowing this older guy for a few miles--maybe 5-10 feet back. I enjoyed being around him because he would crack these jokes every so often. Then for a while whenever we'd pass somebody he'd tell them about the woman (me) who was following him. I finally told him it was because I was enjoying the view, he got a huge chuckle out of that.
Mile 1-8:24
Mile 2-8:24
Mile 3-8:24
Mile 4-10:03 (big drop, uphill portion I think)
Mile 5-8:07 (must have been the corresponding downhill)
Mile 6-9:01
Mile 7-8:59
Mile 8-8:41
Mile 9-8:21 (tummy started cramping, ugh)
Mile 9.3-3:12
As you can see, I didn't have negative splits, grrr. I also didn't hit my goal time of 1:20:00 or under but I did p.r., last year's time was 1:24:05, according to my garmin I did 1:21:40 (don't know what the official time is yet). Anyway it was enough to get third place in the 40-44 age group which I didn't expect at all today. I enjoyed last year's race a lot more than today though! Don't get me wrong, I loved getting to visit with all the Cruisers (and non-Cruisers) before and after but I just wasn't up to what I thought I should have done during the race this morning.
Oh, and I got to visit with Lisa M. quite a bit this morning--I wish I would have thought about asking her if she wanted to do the trail duathlon as a relay team with me. I'm getting the run-around from the person I asked originally, he says he wants to do it but doesn't want to at the same time. Shoot, all I want is a yes or no answer but at this point the du is 2 weeks away and I'm just ready to say to heck with it and cross it off my calendar.
As of today I'm 3 for 3 on the Grand Prix but this race ended my time on the top 10 overall female scoreboard--it was a fluke that I made it in the first place ;-). It was pretty neat to be there for a couple of week though, lol! I'm now ready for a hot bath to soak my sore muscles, although that won't be so great for the 2 toes on my right foot that are now sporting blisters.
James is cooking supper and a cake for me tonight and he bought me some more flowers (awww!).
Anyway back to the 15k. Did I mention that it was cold? and rainy? Yeah, there's the whining again, lol! I can handle cold or rain but both is just plain miserable. It's a beautiful course, very scenic, and it's long enough that if you're a middle of the packer like me people are more apt to talk and joke around. I started out with Brenda, Cindy, and Robert but it wasn't long before Brenda and Robert started pulling away (Brenda is a very strong, consistent runner and I have no doubt that she will Boston qualify within the next 1-2 years).
Tried to drink at the first water stop while still running and it ended up going up my nose! Within 2 paces I had a stitch where it messed up my breathing pattern. Slowed down a bit to allow the stitch to go away then tried to resume my pace with mixed results. The crowd had thinned out by now so from here on it was just try and catch the person in front of me and try not to allow people behind me to pass--I did get passed a few times but not an extreme amount. I had been shadowing this older guy for a few miles--maybe 5-10 feet back. I enjoyed being around him because he would crack these jokes every so often. Then for a while whenever we'd pass somebody he'd tell them about the woman (me) who was following him. I finally told him it was because I was enjoying the view, he got a huge chuckle out of that.
Mile 1-8:24
Mile 2-8:24
Mile 3-8:24
Mile 4-10:03 (big drop, uphill portion I think)
Mile 5-8:07 (must have been the corresponding downhill)
Mile 6-9:01
Mile 7-8:59
Mile 8-8:41
Mile 9-8:21 (tummy started cramping, ugh)
Mile 9.3-3:12
As you can see, I didn't have negative splits, grrr. I also didn't hit my goal time of 1:20:00 or under but I did p.r., last year's time was 1:24:05, according to my garmin I did 1:21:40 (don't know what the official time is yet). Anyway it was enough to get third place in the 40-44 age group which I didn't expect at all today. I enjoyed last year's race a lot more than today though! Don't get me wrong, I loved getting to visit with all the Cruisers (and non-Cruisers) before and after but I just wasn't up to what I thought I should have done during the race this morning.
Oh, and I got to visit with Lisa M. quite a bit this morning--I wish I would have thought about asking her if she wanted to do the trail duathlon as a relay team with me. I'm getting the run-around from the person I asked originally, he says he wants to do it but doesn't want to at the same time. Shoot, all I want is a yes or no answer but at this point the du is 2 weeks away and I'm just ready to say to heck with it and cross it off my calendar.
As of today I'm 3 for 3 on the Grand Prix but this race ended my time on the top 10 overall female scoreboard--it was a fluke that I made it in the first place ;-). It was pretty neat to be there for a couple of week though, lol! I'm now ready for a hot bath to soak my sore muscles, although that won't be so great for the 2 toes on my right foot that are now sporting blisters.
James is cooking supper and a cake for me tonight and he bought me some more flowers (awww!).
15 February 2009
Signs of Life II
Please ignore the ugly green tarp covering our kayaks. Can't believe these flowers are still alive since they're sandwiched between the back fence, the kayaks and a huge storage building.
"Sunday's my fun day
my I don't have to run day" Oh, wait a minute, yes it is my have to run day, lol!
I didn't get a very restful night's sleep because Elsie decided she wasn't going to do her business at the normal time. She woke me up at 11:58 pm, then decided to lay on my legs until she decided she had to go back out starting around 4 a.m. I ignored her until 5 a.m. then tried to go back to sleep for the rest of the hour. Didn't happen, laid there and read a little bit then decided to get up and around at 0545. Felt slightly hungover from the interrupted sleep and decided that even if I felt like crap I was going to look cute for my long run. Wore my new purple running skirt with the white and silver polka dots that I'd gotten on sale from Academy Sports in Laredo a couple of weeks ago ($9.88!!!).
Today I got to run with Annette, Arland, James, Jane, Karen, and Michelle (alphabetical order). Lots of gabbing and laughing put me in a much better frame of mind. I don't know about the rest of y'all but it was a great run. Well, except for the last couple of miles that I did solo--I had more on the schedule than the rest. Once I didn't have any company it seemed like it lasted longer than the previous 9+. Annette and Michelle did drive by and torture me with their coffee in the last .5 mile, lol. Annette did offer to go back and get me one too, she's a sweetie!!
I thought about quitting at 10 miles but I felt ok so pushed on to finish the 12. I was already 2 miles short from one of my runs earlier in the week so this kept me pretty close to the schedule. 12 miles in 2:07:46.
I didn't get a very restful night's sleep because Elsie decided she wasn't going to do her business at the normal time. She woke me up at 11:58 pm, then decided to lay on my legs until she decided she had to go back out starting around 4 a.m. I ignored her until 5 a.m. then tried to go back to sleep for the rest of the hour. Didn't happen, laid there and read a little bit then decided to get up and around at 0545. Felt slightly hungover from the interrupted sleep and decided that even if I felt like crap I was going to look cute for my long run. Wore my new purple running skirt with the white and silver polka dots that I'd gotten on sale from Academy Sports in Laredo a couple of weeks ago ($9.88!!!).
Today I got to run with Annette, Arland, James, Jane, Karen, and Michelle (alphabetical order). Lots of gabbing and laughing put me in a much better frame of mind. I don't know about the rest of y'all but it was a great run. Well, except for the last couple of miles that I did solo--I had more on the schedule than the rest. Once I didn't have any company it seemed like it lasted longer than the previous 9+. Annette and Michelle did drive by and torture me with their coffee in the last .5 mile, lol. Annette did offer to go back and get me one too, she's a sweetie!!
I thought about quitting at 10 miles but I felt ok so pushed on to finish the 12. I was already 2 miles short from one of my runs earlier in the week so this kept me pretty close to the schedule. 12 miles in 2:07:46.
River Trail 15k
I have been looking forward to the River Trail 15k for a couple of months and now there's a chance I may not get to run it, boo...... Dispatcher let me know that I've had a schedule change for this coming week and instead of loading on Tuesday, I won't get to reload until Wednesday. I can make it to Laredo no problem by Thursday night but the big issue will be whether I have a trailer waiting for me to head back home with. If I have a trailer, then no prob. I can make it back to NLR by Saturday a.m. legally. I'll just pack whatever I plan to wear for the race Sat., spend the night in my truck and just go straight to the race that morning without going home first. Cross your fingers everybody, I really, really want to make this race, esp. since it's the G.P. 15k championship.
Funny as h*ll
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-babyboomers-blurb,0,1036393.blurb
I'm not a baby boomer (Gen. X'er) but this is hilarious!! And parts of it is applicable to my generation too.
I'm not a baby boomer (Gen. X'er) but this is hilarious!! And parts of it is applicable to my generation too.
14 February 2009
Alternatives
I absolutely love the Penguin sports wash but my only source in Searcy no longer carries it and I usually forget to order it online until I need it. One day while following James around the sporting goods section in Wal-Mart I found a cheaper version (on the right in the picture). Identical bottle, similar label, HALF the price and seems to work just as good. Now if I only didn't have to trek into wally world to get it I would be happy. Now, don't get me wrong I have nothing at all against Wal-Mart, I actually like shopping there but I don't like driving to the opposite side of town and fighting to get around inside. What is it about elderly people and shopping carts that causes them to turn into jerks?
Valentine's Day 5k
Me, Andy, and Abigail before the torturefest
I'm the one in red, ha-ha!!
Ow, I hurt, hurt, hurt. Not enough speed workouts lately and my last 5k was way back in October. A 5k is something you really have to work at if you're wanting to race it. Slightly chilly this morning, approx 40F but windy and boy did that wind have a bite to it. I had to go back and get my gloves even though I knew I would be shucking them off before a 1/4 of a mile in. We had a lot of Cruisers today! Jackie and family, Annette and Arland, Bailey, Jane, Russ, Eugene, and several others. Unfortunately I didn't get to visit as much beforehand as what I would have liked. Mike was there and without James there to keep him company I felt weird about leaving him standing alone most of the time.
Since I have a habit of lining up further back than what I should, I decided to push it and move up closer to the front. Actually ended up kind of next to Bailey who was with Caitlyn and I joked with Bailey that she couldn't lolly-gag around if she was going to start with her (C. is very fast!). Well guess what?!!! Bailey kicked some major butt today!!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of her, I think she has the capability of being one of the faster women in the Grand Prix and today definitely proved it. She passed me like I was standing still around mile 2, woo-hoo! It was all I could do to keep her pink shirt in sight for just a little while.
Oh, back to the lining up closer. Kind of a mistake today because of the narrow trails (it's on the Bona Dea Trails). I got a very hard elbow into my left arm just after the start. I was knocked sideways and backwards a little which caused me to hit some guy just behind me. I'm trying to recover from the hit and I hear this "oof", I doubt if that person reads my blog but I'm really, really sorry. Wasn't a whole lot I could do about it though since my hitting/kicking him was the result of me being elbowed. The men get VERY aggressive sometimes so I guess it's a little further to the back for me 'cause I sure don't like getting shoved around. That's one reason why I will probably never do a triathlon, I've heard that you get really beat up on the swim portion. Well, that and I can't swim very well, plus the claustrophobia issue.
Another issue I had this morning was the later start--the race started at 9 a.m. While I loved not having to get up at 4 a.m. in order to eat, get around, and drive approx. 2 hours, it kind of played havoc with my nutrition/fuel. I ate an egg mcmuffin (no meat, no cheese) and had a 1/2 cup of coffee around 6 a.m. and while this usually works perfect for me on race morning today it was a little too long between eating and working out. I was starting to get a tad bit hungry right at 9, don't know why I didn't think to grab a gel beforehand. I'm hypoglycemic and try to eat something about every 3 hrs so I don't get shaky (at 4 hrs I turn into a stark raving mad full-on bitch) but just didn't time this one right. Had my mind stuck on an 8 a.m. start I guess.
Ok, the race itself--I was miserable, started out slightly too fast (I'm out of practice!). Don't know what my mile splits were because I didn't wear my garmin and there were no time-keepers at the mile-markers. Just know that I slowed down quite a bit on miles 2 and 3 and had very little kick left at the end. Felt like my lungs and heart was going to explode out of my chest! I hit the finish line at 24:55 but didn't get my tear-off handed in until 24:57. A little disappointed in my time, was hoping to finish closer to 24 than 25 today but I had nothing left so it's not a race where I'm like I could have done this or this faster. I left it all out there today and that's all you can do.
There was a snafu with the awards ceremony, I guess the girls rushed it a bit and got several people put in the wrong place. For example, I was called out as 2nd in my age group but was actually 3rd because the woman who placed 2nd was erroneously listed as 2nd female overall when she wasn't. Too bad, the 2nd place age group trophies were extremely cute! I didn't know it until Jackie realized that the person called out as 3rd finished behind her. She went up to let them know then came back and told me about the other woman that should've gotten the trophy. So I went back up with the award and explained what happened, my info was taken down and it was noted that I returned the trophy so hopefully it will get to its rightful owner. Whew, did you get all that? I think something similar happened with part of the guys' age groups too.
Final stats (I think!)--I was 33/150 female runners and 3/24 in the 35-39 female age group. This will be my last race in that age group by the way. Oh, and Patti told me she had a p.r. today, way to go girl!!!!
Afterwards, went to my sis' house because she baked me a cake!! It was delicious.......and very rich, yum. Got a birthday spanking from my niece (and a pinch to grow on). Well, Abigail only made it to 20 swats but hey it was still cute. My nephew is getting to the age where he doesn't want to be hugged on, at least until I leaned over to hug him anyway and told him that he smelled good, he smelled like gasoline and motorcycle (he had been riding his dirt bike). That got me a huge grin and big hug. All in all a good day even if I didn't get to share it with James (he's on his way to Laredo).
One Hour Track Run medal
Very cool, and the other side is ENGRAVED with my name and mileage. The race director did this for everybody that completed it, isn't that awesome?!!
Odd bird stuff
Don't know why but I've been doing a lot of bird-watching in the truck lately--boredom probably, lol! Unfortunately most of the viewing has been either macabre or obscene.
Any-hoo part of what I've seen this week
Tuesday--On I-40 in Tenn somewhere between Nashville and Memphis (told you I was bored!) a bald eagle sitting on the grass with 2 parked cars on the shoulder. I'm guessing the eagle got hit by one of them or they witnessed it being hit and were waiting for some kind of animal control to arrive to tend to it. Gorgeous bird, I don't think I've ever seen a bald eagle outside of captivity before.
Wed. and Thurs.--On Hwy 19 at the lake between Emory and Sulphur Springs, TX. Lots and lots of dead ducks on the road. For some reason the younger ducks were getting up on the highway and then getting very, very smushed by the 65-70 mph traffic. They weren't ducklings but not full grown, they didn't have very good control of their wings yet. Wed. morning when I drove through it was only dead ducks but Thursday I ended up having to slow way down and dodge some of them. Fortunately I didn't hit any but it was still disturbing to see the carcasses scattered on the road. I've been taking this shortcut for a couple of years and this is the first time I've seen this. Wonder what was causing them to get on the roadway in such large numbers?
Friday--watched a pair of cardinals doing their mating ritual on the shoulder of Hwy 67. Silly birds, don't they know kids (and immature adults) are watching?
Told you it was odd bird stuff this week.
Any-hoo part of what I've seen this week
Tuesday--On I-40 in Tenn somewhere between Nashville and Memphis (told you I was bored!) a bald eagle sitting on the grass with 2 parked cars on the shoulder. I'm guessing the eagle got hit by one of them or they witnessed it being hit and were waiting for some kind of animal control to arrive to tend to it. Gorgeous bird, I don't think I've ever seen a bald eagle outside of captivity before.
Wed. and Thurs.--On Hwy 19 at the lake between Emory and Sulphur Springs, TX. Lots and lots of dead ducks on the road. For some reason the younger ducks were getting up on the highway and then getting very, very smushed by the 65-70 mph traffic. They weren't ducklings but not full grown, they didn't have very good control of their wings yet. Wed. morning when I drove through it was only dead ducks but Thursday I ended up having to slow way down and dodge some of them. Fortunately I didn't hit any but it was still disturbing to see the carcasses scattered on the road. I've been taking this shortcut for a couple of years and this is the first time I've seen this. Wonder what was causing them to get on the roadway in such large numbers?
Friday--watched a pair of cardinals doing their mating ritual on the shoulder of Hwy 67. Silly birds, don't they know kids (and immature adults) are watching?
Told you it was odd bird stuff this week.
"Rumors of my death.....
.......have been greatly exaggerated" to quote Mark Twain. James and I had a guy leave us a message on our home phone a couple of weeks that we hadn't heard from in around 7-8 years. I'd went to truck driving school with his wife and James rode up with him in a van to New Jersey to pick up trucks. Well, James didn't get around to returning his call until tonight and found out that we (me and James) had been in a horrible motorcycle accident 3 years ago in Texas that either killed us or almost did. News to us! Isn't it weird how rumors get started? We've never had a motorcycle accident, and I have my own bike so I wouldn't have been on the bitch seat of James' anyway. Now I've dropped my softy a time or two in parking lots at very slow speeds when trying to make turns while I was learning (and maybe a couple of times after that, LOL!) but I've never wrecked it. Shoot, the closest I've come to an accident on the motorcycle was on his 750 honda the first time I ever tried to ride and I just laid it down on a grassy field--again at super slow speeds. Momentum is your friend on 2 wheels, motorcyle or bicycle. I thought maybe they'd heard about my bicycle accident last May, but the timeline was too far off.
This brings me to another humorous rant. Why do guys that ride the oversized motorcycles assume that I ride a Sporty? There's absolutely nothing wrong with Sportsters, actually with the right setup and a skilled rider they will beat most bigger displacement cruisers but they have an undeserved rep as being a "chick bike". Anyway some men take it as a personal insult that a woman can ride the same size motorcycle as they can.
As weird as this is, this isn't the first time that somebody has called us trying to find out if we were okay because of a serious accident. The only difference was that he'd heard it was a big truck accident that killed/maimed us while we were driving team. Strange.........
This brings me to another humorous rant. Why do guys that ride the oversized motorcycles assume that I ride a Sporty? There's absolutely nothing wrong with Sportsters, actually with the right setup and a skilled rider they will beat most bigger displacement cruisers but they have an undeserved rep as being a "chick bike". Anyway some men take it as a personal insult that a woman can ride the same size motorcycle as they can.
As weird as this is, this isn't the first time that somebody has called us trying to find out if we were okay because of a serious accident. The only difference was that he'd heard it was a big truck accident that killed/maimed us while we were driving team. Strange.........
08 February 2009
Sunny Sunday
It turned into a gorgeous day! Sunny and mid-70F temps, ahhhh. Anyway slept in this morning (after a 5:48 am bathroom break for Elsie. I was needing to get my truck back to International and since James was going to be in NLR getting a trailer worked on we made plans to drop my truck back off for a couple of hours. While it was in the shop (again) we drove to the Rivertrail at Cooks Landing so I could get my 6 miles in. Took Elsie for the first 3.47, she was so hyper she needed a good workout! Kind of a mistake taking her though, she'd be great until we met somebody, or passed people, then she would either pull me or stop and try to go back and visit. It was also warmer than she's used to, I ended up giving her almost all of our water before we got back to James. One cyclist we met was like "Oh, that poor dog!" because we were running, but darn it she was the one pulling me at the time!
After she got left with James I took off across the Big Dam Bridge and was really looking forward to the water fountain on the other side. Boy was I disappointed, it had been shut off for the winter I guess, grrr. So back across the bridge. I was getting kind of frustrated because you had some cyclists that wouldn't warn you "on the left" before passing and kind of crowd you--I was against the wall unless passing somebody myself, but it's still nice to get a heads-up. On the other hand, you would have people walking 3-5 abreast who wouldn't move over for the cyclists when they would warn them. Probably lack of experience on both sides. I did get several thank yous when I had Elsie because I would move completely off the trail with her while we were running so that the cyclists would have plenty of room and wouldn't get freaked out while passing a dog.
My truck still wasn't finished when we got back to the dealer so we hung out in the grass behind the shop so Elsie could play off the leash and I took the opportunity to do my pushups. Final day on week 5, will have to do another test in a couple of days to find out if I move to week 6 or do level 2 on week 5. Today was 2 sets of 13, 2 sets of 15, 2 sets of 12, 1 set of 10, 1 set of at least 30. At 21 on the final set I started having to pause at the top and rest for a second before moving on and couldn't get myself back up on 29! Arms were shaking and I pretty much did a face plant on the grass for a moment before getting back up for the last one. Did get cat-called by a group of Cal-Ark drivers walking around looking for their trucks. Oh well, I'm pretty sure that I can do more pushups than they can so they can make fun all they want.
Thought about getting the road bike out when I got back home but I'm TIRED. This has been a hard week. Still hate to pass up such pretty weather though. Did get my 30 miles in this week that was supposed to have been done last week. I think I'll still be ok on my schedule for the Little Rock half-marathon anyway.
After she got left with James I took off across the Big Dam Bridge and was really looking forward to the water fountain on the other side. Boy was I disappointed, it had been shut off for the winter I guess, grrr. So back across the bridge. I was getting kind of frustrated because you had some cyclists that wouldn't warn you "on the left" before passing and kind of crowd you--I was against the wall unless passing somebody myself, but it's still nice to get a heads-up. On the other hand, you would have people walking 3-5 abreast who wouldn't move over for the cyclists when they would warn them. Probably lack of experience on both sides. I did get several thank yous when I had Elsie because I would move completely off the trail with her while we were running so that the cyclists would have plenty of room and wouldn't get freaked out while passing a dog.
My truck still wasn't finished when we got back to the dealer so we hung out in the grass behind the shop so Elsie could play off the leash and I took the opportunity to do my pushups. Final day on week 5, will have to do another test in a couple of days to find out if I move to week 6 or do level 2 on week 5. Today was 2 sets of 13, 2 sets of 15, 2 sets of 12, 1 set of 10, 1 set of at least 30. At 21 on the final set I started having to pause at the top and rest for a second before moving on and couldn't get myself back up on 29! Arms were shaking and I pretty much did a face plant on the grass for a moment before getting back up for the last one. Did get cat-called by a group of Cal-Ark drivers walking around looking for their trucks. Oh well, I'm pretty sure that I can do more pushups than they can so they can make fun all they want.
Thought about getting the road bike out when I got back home but I'm TIRED. This has been a hard week. Still hate to pass up such pretty weather though. Did get my 30 miles in this week that was supposed to have been done last week. I think I'll still be ok on my schedule for the Little Rock half-marathon anyway.
06 February 2009
waiting game
Dropped my trailer last night but things are getting tighter with the trailers being available so I have been laid over for the day. If everything goes right my trailer should be here in another hour. If it does get here I should be able to get hooked up and rolling north to Pearsall before I have to go to bed, I'm feeling more tired than usual so won't make it any further than that. James unfortunately picked up some virus, we think he got it from our NLR shop. They've been passing it around amongst each other for the past few weeks. His truck came up on the list to have an a.p.u. (auxiliary power unit) installed last weekend so he at least got a couple of extra days off. He still had to leave out last night to pick up in TN and will be in Laredo tomorrow evening.
Workouts for the week
Monday 4.09 miles at home before I left
Tuesday--Rest
Wednesday--pushups, dips, walking lunges, and plyometrics in the morning at a picnic area just north of Athens, 5.09 mile run at Buda in the afternoon
Thursday--3.74 mile run at the new Academy Sports off of loop 20 here in Laredo (supposed to have been 8)
Very, very, very frustrated with today's run for several reasons. 1)I can't find a place to run at Laredo that is safe and won't kill my legs 2)I slept late so had to deal with traffic and construction workers 3)warmer than I'm used to 4) my legs ache from yesterday and 5) it was WINDY! It was blowing so hard my truck was rocking back and forth. If I hadn't been stubborn and tried to do the stupid intervals today I probably could have gotten in 5-6 miles okay. But, noooooooo, I had to try and be a hard-ass. Well it kicked me in the ass instead of the other way around. Blech.
Yesterday was a bee-yoo-tee-ful day once I got on I35 south--the weather anyway, traffic was a different story. I sat in back-ups due to 5 wrecks between Austin and San Antonio. What was up with that? I could understand if it was raining or overcast but it was sunny and mid 70 F temps. People should have had their windows down and enjoying the day (like me!).
Did a little bit of retail therapy at Academy Sports after my screwed up run. Under Armor and Nike hoodies were marked down to $19.88--managed to limit myself to 2, lol. Also got a couple of long-sleeved Nike tees and 1 pair of workout shorts for 9.88 each, a pair of Nike shoes for $30, and some running shorts and socks at regular price. I only planned to get the socks when I went in, should have stayed away from the clearance racks.
Workouts for the week
Monday 4.09 miles at home before I left
Tuesday--Rest
Wednesday--pushups, dips, walking lunges, and plyometrics in the morning at a picnic area just north of Athens, 5.09 mile run at Buda in the afternoon
Thursday--3.74 mile run at the new Academy Sports off of loop 20 here in Laredo (supposed to have been 8)
Very, very, very frustrated with today's run for several reasons. 1)I can't find a place to run at Laredo that is safe and won't kill my legs 2)I slept late so had to deal with traffic and construction workers 3)warmer than I'm used to 4) my legs ache from yesterday and 5) it was WINDY! It was blowing so hard my truck was rocking back and forth. If I hadn't been stubborn and tried to do the stupid intervals today I probably could have gotten in 5-6 miles okay. But, noooooooo, I had to try and be a hard-ass. Well it kicked me in the ass instead of the other way around. Blech.
Yesterday was a bee-yoo-tee-ful day once I got on I35 south--the weather anyway, traffic was a different story. I sat in back-ups due to 5 wrecks between Austin and San Antonio. What was up with that? I could understand if it was raining or overcast but it was sunny and mid 70 F temps. People should have had their windows down and enjoying the day (like me!).
Did a little bit of retail therapy at Academy Sports after my screwed up run. Under Armor and Nike hoodies were marked down to $19.88--managed to limit myself to 2, lol. Also got a couple of long-sleeved Nike tees and 1 pair of workout shorts for 9.88 each, a pair of Nike shoes for $30, and some running shorts and socks at regular price. I only planned to get the socks when I went in, should have stayed away from the clearance racks.
04 February 2009
25 things about me
Kelownagurl tagged me in a roundabout way (I read her blog, she said to consider yourself tagged if you do, lol!)
Hmmm, where to start?
1) I wore combat boots--I joined the Army Reserves in my junior year of high school, did basic in between my junior and senior year at Fort Dix, then AIT after graduation at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Didn't re-up after my initial time was over.
2) I can't dance, if you've seen me dancing anytime after high school it's a pretty good chance that I was very drunk at the time. I think the last time I even slowdanced with James was approx. 10 years ago.
3) People assume that I'm a city girl but actually was brought up in a very rural environment. My mom and step-dad kept a garden, canned food, grew chickens, rabbits, and hogs, cut wood for heat, etc....
4) I won the school spelling bee in the 8th grade (still have the trophy!)
5) I think black (or any dark color) nail polish on a guy is very sexy. Can't talk my husband into it though.
6) Hard angry music calms me down (think I might have issues?!)
7) I'm a Hello Kitty fan, even have a H.K. tattoo on my upper back
8) I don't like needles! I've had multiple piercings and heavily tattooed but I absolutely cannot watch it being done to myself or anybody else
9) I'm sensitive to surgical stainless steel so if I ever have to anything screwed back together it better be with niobium or titanium.
10) I rarely wear makeup but I have a huge cosmetic collection, esp. M.A.C. and Urban Decay
11) Cannot under any circumstances go to sleep without reading a book. It may only be a few sentences before I conk out but it has to be something. And magazines don't work.
12) I'm a HUGE sci-fi fan. If it wasn't for the small issue of me being very claustrophobic I would love to go into space.
13) Speaking of claustrophobia, I try to buy vehicles without power windows or locks. If I'm in a vehicle that goes into any kind of water I want to be able to get out. Sometimes I think we're the only people that don't have a keyless entry/alarm though. Now if I could get an option with only the passenger window being electric I would love that.
14) I have two small scars on my cheeks from where I would walk around reading while outside (usually when I was supposed to be doing my chores) and bumped into things.
15) I'm looking forward to turning 40
16) I've had 4 auto accidents, none of which were my fault. All involved guys running stop signs or red lights (2 of each). Two of those accidents were on the same street, just at different intersections.
17) Most things electronic in our house I'm in charge of troubleshooting or fixing but I'm scared silly to touch any of the knobs except volume, sqelch, and channel on my C.B. because I don't want to mess any of the settings up. If I happen to bump anything I usually whine at James to come fix it. (It's a Galaxy 33 btw if anybody's curious).
18) I was a white milk kid in school. Not sure what turned me off of chocolate milk but can't stand it.
19) I believe James and I were destined to be together. It's weird how many times our lives intersected before we actually met.
20)I wanted to be a veterinarian or librarian when I was a kid
Hmmm, where to start?
1) I wore combat boots--I joined the Army Reserves in my junior year of high school, did basic in between my junior and senior year at Fort Dix, then AIT after graduation at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Didn't re-up after my initial time was over.
2) I can't dance, if you've seen me dancing anytime after high school it's a pretty good chance that I was very drunk at the time. I think the last time I even slowdanced with James was approx. 10 years ago.
3) People assume that I'm a city girl but actually was brought up in a very rural environment. My mom and step-dad kept a garden, canned food, grew chickens, rabbits, and hogs, cut wood for heat, etc....
4) I won the school spelling bee in the 8th grade (still have the trophy!)
5) I think black (or any dark color) nail polish on a guy is very sexy. Can't talk my husband into it though.
6) Hard angry music calms me down (think I might have issues?!)
7) I'm a Hello Kitty fan, even have a H.K. tattoo on my upper back
8) I don't like needles! I've had multiple piercings and heavily tattooed but I absolutely cannot watch it being done to myself or anybody else
9) I'm sensitive to surgical stainless steel so if I ever have to anything screwed back together it better be with niobium or titanium.
10) I rarely wear makeup but I have a huge cosmetic collection, esp. M.A.C. and Urban Decay
11) Cannot under any circumstances go to sleep without reading a book. It may only be a few sentences before I conk out but it has to be something. And magazines don't work.
12) I'm a HUGE sci-fi fan. If it wasn't for the small issue of me being very claustrophobic I would love to go into space.
13) Speaking of claustrophobia, I try to buy vehicles without power windows or locks. If I'm in a vehicle that goes into any kind of water I want to be able to get out. Sometimes I think we're the only people that don't have a keyless entry/alarm though. Now if I could get an option with only the passenger window being electric I would love that.
14) I have two small scars on my cheeks from where I would walk around reading while outside (usually when I was supposed to be doing my chores) and bumped into things.
15) I'm looking forward to turning 40
16) I've had 4 auto accidents, none of which were my fault. All involved guys running stop signs or red lights (2 of each). Two of those accidents were on the same street, just at different intersections.
17) Most things electronic in our house I'm in charge of troubleshooting or fixing but I'm scared silly to touch any of the knobs except volume, sqelch, and channel on my C.B. because I don't want to mess any of the settings up. If I happen to bump anything I usually whine at James to come fix it. (It's a Galaxy 33 btw if anybody's curious).
18) I was a white milk kid in school. Not sure what turned me off of chocolate milk but can't stand it.
19) I believe James and I were destined to be together. It's weird how many times our lives intersected before we actually met.
20)I wanted to be a veterinarian or librarian when I was a kid
21) I don't like talking on the phone to anybody besides James. My brain gets ahead of my mouth (or vice-versa) and I end up sounding like I'm incapable of a coherent sentence.
22)The most fun I've ever had in school was a mud football game at lunch in the 6th or 7th grade. The principal was threatening to give us detention but was having trouble keeping from laughing so just made us all go to class wet and dirty. I think that was the coolest I'd ever felt, 'cause upperclassmen kept coming up to me afterwards saying they wished they could have been there to play.
23) I watch "What Not to Wear" way too much, esp. since my wardrobe now consists of workout wear, jeans, and tees.
24) I consider pimento cheese to be among the most disgusting foodstuffs in the world (excepting the obvious like eyes, brains, etc). sorry if I just grossed everybody out.
25)I think pink and orange is a fantastic color combo--that's the colors I usually wear on my toenails in the summer.
I'm going to follow Kelownagurl's example, if you read my blog consider yourself tagged if you want to participate.
03 February 2009
01 February 2009
battle scars
Results of today's crash on the road bike.
Bottom of a hill+ Curve+ braking+ deep gravel = a spectacular crash!!
I never realized how hard it was taking a picture of your own leg with a camera phone.
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