Dam Night Run 5k Part III

The race itself--well by now it's pretty much a blur, LOL! Carol and I lined up near the front so we didn't have the huge delay for the start line like those closer to the back. Oh, that's a major gripe I have about the race-it was chip timed but only at the finish line, there was no start line mat. I think Jackie and Debbie said they counted 9 seconds before they reached the start.

My feet were soooooooooo hot once we got started running and stayed that way for the first mile, yuck. Very uncomfortable. 7:20 for the first mile, 14:41 2nd mile, I only lost a second there, major improvement for me. Unlike the Brickfest I didn't have a bunch of women pass me between mile 2 and 3, YAY! I did lose some time mile 2 through the finish but it wasn't a huge amount and I continued to catch and pass a few people. AND no walk breaks for me this year. I did know that even if I had a 9 minute mile at this point (mile 2) I'd still finish under 25 minutes so had a little extra boost of confidence.

I was so surprised that I caught up to Curtis just before the water station because almost every race I ran last year I was behind him, could see him but couldn't muster up the speed to catch him. Did skip the water stop, I had such a good pace going so didn't want to slow for it and besides I was still carrying my water bottle if I did decide that I absolutely had to have a drink.
Yep, ran the entire 5k with the water bottle that you can see tucked under my arm in the pic from the previous post where I'm tweeting on the phone.

Since I was nearer the front this year I didn't have to view as many people on the sides puking and dry-heaving, whew. I'm getting better but usually the sight, sound, or smell of vomit causes me to almost join in, yucko.

Just before the finish line there's a near 180 degree turn at the bottom of the hill and boy can it cause some problems if you're not used to pivoting that way. Thanks to the drills I've been doing I was able to run through it without slowing a significant amount and powered on to the chutes. Surprisingly I was able to still add a sprint at this point, didn't want to be passed in the last few feet by another female like last year. Can't remember clearly but I do think that I passed a guy through here. Like I said, it was a blur.

I was so ecstatic when I got close to the timing clock and it was showing a time less than my previous 5k personal record of 23:56!!!!!!! Like I posted before the results show my official finish time as 23:26 but I was thinking that I'd done it in 23:46-48. So extra happy now! It will be tough to beat this one for a while though because there was so much downhill. Not that downhills are any easier on your body but once you figure out how to properly run without leaning back and essentially "braking", it feels like you can fly down.

Had that runner's high going afterwards!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!

　

Debbie and me with our age-group awards, a huge nylon tote sack that will come in very handy hauling race gear around.

I've already posted this but the first place female in my age group was in the top 3 Masters so I ended up getting the 1st place 40-44 age group award. Unfortunately I've fallen to 2nd place in the overall female masters in the year's Grand Prix points standings. The woman in first is just too darned fast, LOL!

The weight loss and resumption of speed workouts on the treadmill seems to be working, the past 2 races have gotten me out of the 25 minute range slump that I've been in for the past year. What I've learned though is that if I want to put in faster races (fast for me anyway!) I'm going to have to deal with the feeling of almost puking.............yuck.

Dam Night Run 5k Part II

Now that I have more time to recap the race I think I've forgotten nearly everything I wanted to write, LOL..........Getting old sucks sometimes ;-)

This was my 2nd year running the Dam Night 5k and I'm very happy to say that this year was much more successful than last year's attempt. For one, last year's race was one week after breaking my front tooth at my nephew's birthday party and the dentist wasn't ready to put a cap on it so very, very few smiles. Also this year I was much better prepared for long downhill stretches, although you wouldn't know it by how sore my legs are today. OUCH!!!!!! Delayed onset muscle soreness is a bitch........

The Dam Night Run 5k is a point to point race and you can either run the 3.1 mostly uphill miles to the start line or be trucked up on the back of a local lumber company's flatbed bobtrucks (what they use to make deliveries to small construction sites). The lines can be very long.

Tweeting while waiting in line. Yep, there's the crooked teeth from last year's roller skating mishap :). I looooove my Iphone!

On the truck--got to ride up with Carol to get advice on marathon training. I think we're about to drive the guys on either side of us batty with our incessant chatting and giggling.

Start was delayed only 15 minutes this year as compared to the 45 minute late start of the prior year thankfully. It's HOT and HUMID standing up at the top amid the sea of sweaty runners

The Search and Rescue boat that was providing this extremely welcome shower of water near the finish line.

Don't be fooled--by race end this area is in complete darkness except for the street lights and the finish line area spotlights. Mosquite repellant is a necessity, even though you'd think they'd be repelled by the stench of sweaty runners, ha-ha.

Dam Night Run 5k

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!! A new 5k personal record--23:26 according to the chip timing website. I thought it was closer to 23:46 which is still a p.r. but hey I'll take the chip time! Don't have much time this morning so will write out a more comprehensive race report later in the week (yeah I know, scintillating stuff. NOT!) I was 22nd female overall out of 281, 133 overall out of a field of over 600.

Carol and me prior to the start--as you can see she is now a member of the Marathon Maniacs! She's done 1 a month so far this year, AMAZING. She's such an amazing, bubbly, awesome person!!!!!!!!! And we were mistaken for sisters on one occasion, LOL.

Waiting in line

At the dam night 5k waiting to get on the trucks

In passing

Comments/compliments/complaints--What I've heard this week and last

1) At Mt. Vernon from one of the cashiers "You're not a truck driver are you?" "Wow, that is so cool that a little bitty girl is driving a big truck!" Now, mind you, this girl was literally young enough to be my daughter and I wouldn't have even had to start as a teenager for that to happen, LOL. Made my day. Actually I'm still grinning over that one.

2)At Von Ormy after my 5 miler the cashier asked had I been out jogging. When I replied yeah and told her my distance for that day, her eyes got huge and she told me "That's a LONG way!"

3)Shopping today at a clothing store I worked at 10 years ago, the manager told me that I was going to have to quit losing weight or I was going to blow away, she then told me I was like her daughter and at our age we had to be careful of the weight loss because our faces would start to get drawn and we'd look old. Ummm, okay, I realize that's happening right now but it's not very tactful on her part.

4) A friend of James' told him that I was going to have to start training IMMEDIATELY if I had any hopes of completing the marathon in November.

5)This next is not any sort of comment that was directed at me but it's something I HAD to listen too and is kind of funny now. I had too much coffee Tues. morning and as a result needed to make an unplanned pitstop at Royse City, TX. Pretty much set the brakes on the truck before it was completely stopped and ran inside the fuel stop. Unfortunately the only unoccupied stall had an out of order sign on it and the other 3 were occupied by little old ladies who were just sitting there talking and farting and talking and farting..................I'm starting to do the "gotta pee" dance and was on the verge of yelling at them that if they just concentrated on the farting and quit the talking they'd finish when one FINALLY come out of the stall!!!!!!!!!

6) was asked at the local sporting goods store if I'd done any long rides lately, when I told him no all my recent rides had been 20 miles or under, he chuckled about me saying "just short rides"

What have I done?!?

I have signed up for my first ever marathon!!!!!! I'm so incredibly excited and nervous and excited and scared..........Well you get the idea, lol.

It's the Midsouth Marathon in Wynne on November 7th, a smaller marathon but it is a part of the ARRCA Grand Prix series so that's why it's going to be my first. I kept waffling back and forth on running it so finally went ahead and registered last night. Told James I can't back out now because I'd be out $27.50, yeah I think that's almost the cheapest fee ever for a marathon. I will be running with friends so that's a huge plus. Training starts this week and I think I'm going to use a Runner's World plan but if anybody has any suggestions please, please let me know.

Goal set, goal reached

Three or four months ago I decided that I wanted to drop an additional 5 pounds to get down to 115. As of today I have reached that goal!!!!!!!! Well, actually the scale read 115.4 lbs but I did have 3 slices of pizza just before bed last night (yeah, that's a huge no-no, LOL). Yippeee!!!!!!!!

Don't know for sure yet if dropping the weight will help in the being faster department because I've not been running that many races so far this summer. I will say that the Brickfest 5k time was a bit better than I expected so maybe it is. I do have a 5k on the schedule for next Saturday night but I tend to run the night races slightly slower (it's hotter!) so that probably won't be a good indicator either.

Anyway, since I (finally) met my weight loss goal my next one is to get a sub 24 minute 5k time. Let's see if the body holds up ;-)

Bad manners

Or as Indy wrote "Etiket 101"

There was an older man at one of our fuel stops this past week that really, really needed the "etiket 101" course. This particular place has always been difficult to get in and out of but is now "fixed" (which means it's worse). It's a complete cluster for the trucks in the parking lot but we're not blocking off the car entrance for Hardee's anymore while queueing up to fuel and we all KNOW that's the important thing.

I'm sitting there waiting for a fuel island and he just comes up and cuts everybody off to pull into the one and only island that literally had just opened up all the while ignoring my comments on the cb that there were others waiting in line that he just cutoff. Of course there are no replies and this guy is doing the "stare straight ahead and the others won't notice that I'm here" thing.

Oh yeah, guess it should be pertinent to mention that you can no longer line up behind somebody in the fuel lanes, you have to wait perpendicular to the islands which at busy times is causing those drivers waiting to park or leave parking spots to not be able to do so due to the huge line of trucks lining up to fuel. Like I said--"fixed".

Anyway back to the rude guy--fortunately another fuel island opened up a few moments after he butted his way in and after pulling up and setting the brakes I stomped my way over to him to ask didn't he see the big trucks in line (in particular MY truck!) and got this "I was just wanting to get out of here, I didn't need fuel."

WTH!!!!!!!!!

First off, he was in his late 60's so old enough to know to look around before pulling out to figure out the best way to exit. Even if he didn't have enough sense to do that, courtesy dictates that you get on the c.b. and TELL people that you're not fueling. You know the ones that you drove by when searching for the exit. Especially when one is trying to tell you over the radio that you're cutting people off. No apology at all, just I'm trying to leave. And the kicker of it? He had his radio ON, he knew that I was trying to tell him about the drivers ahead of him.

BTW, I must've looked fairly pissed because he never lowered his window past 1/2 way when I walked over to give him what for, LOL.

I did have the final laugh though. I was fueled, oil checked, windows cleaned, tires bumped, parked, and waiting in line at the fuel desk to get my shower before the guy in front of him on the fuel island pulled out. Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh, karma is a great thing!

He did have the audacity to get on the c.b. when I was pulling around to park to ask what did it matter that he cut me off since I was getting to leave before him. I just did what Terry does and gave him a big smile and wave when I walked by his truck with my shower bag in hand :-)

Hurry up!!

Elsie patiently waiting for me to hurry up and walk her already.

Well, it hasn't been the week from hell but it sure has been frustrating, LOL....Finally got the guy who's filling in while my dispatcher is on vacation to give me a different trailer Monday morning so that I could make my Wednesday pickup in middle Tenn. We pretty much rushed to Arkansas so that I could drop my truck off for new steer tires and the a.p.u. possibly repaired (rubber boot on fuel solenoid had a hole in it) Tuesday. Used the 4 hours off to drive the 45 minutes home, start a load of laundry (one load only so that I could have some shorts to wear), hit the gym for 5 miles on treadmill, shower, empty out the mail box and drove the 45 minutes back. Whew!

Of course the trailer I picked up Wednesday needed tires, I don't think I've been able to pick up a trailer at this customer for the past 2 months that didn't need repairs.....It's not the customer tearing things up though, it's drivers not having things fixed. Couldn't even get the landing gear up, the trailer had been dropped too high, the gearing was stripped, and the handle didn't fit properly. Oh and it weighed approx. 39,000 lbs, not over-weight but made it that much more impossible to budge. I ended up having to get the yard driver lift the trailer up with his truck while James struggled with the landing gear. Yeah, I did the girl thing and asked my hubby to come help, LOL. In my defense though, even James had difficulty with it where it was so screwed up. Rushed to our yard in central Arkansas and the mechanics had things set to rights in almost record time--including replacing a suspension system part that I didn't catch on the walk-around. All this rushing means that I have no time for a proper meal or shower because I have to make it back to Arkansas before the shop closes at 1800.

Anyway back in Laredo dealing with the fill-in again. There are a couple of trailers here that go to one of the customers in Tenn. that I pick up at but this guy claims they're not here. Never mind that I'm looking at the trailers and he's over 800 miles away. Soooo frustrating. Oh yeah, he doesn't answer his qualcomm messages either.

Why aren't we home?

Still in Laredo.........There are worse places to lay over, at least here I can bobtail pretty much anywhere, but I'm about shopped out and am past stir-crazy. Elsie agrees, lol.

Hmm, what's new? My left hip is only twinging a little this morning so hopefully I'll be able to go for a run tomorrow with no pain and Indy called me this morning, YAY!! Having a blog and commenting on others has brought me so many new friends that I otherwise would have never met. I love web 2.0!!!!!!

A funny story about my last training ride before I left home--I was trying to go up this huge hill that's back behind our neighborhood and made it up one side okay (albeit very slowly). rode around the ridge to catch my breath and prepared to go up the other side of the hill to head back home. Unfortunately I didn't get up quite enough momentum and then missed the gear shifting down........Yep, in slow motion I topple over to the right while clipped in and did it right in front of somebody's house. You know they were outside ;) because that kind of thing can't go unwitnessed. I was like a turtle on its back, couldn't move my feet to unclip at all, had to reach down and unstrap the left shoe to pull my foot out before I could get loose. Soooooooo embarrassing, esp. with the guy hollering out in a panicked one "Are you okay?!?" The only thing hurt was my ego, lol.

Sunday lunch at Whataburger

Salado

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, the black speck above the buildings between 12 and one o'clock is a parachutist (?) coming down. There's a business that does the jumps behind the old fuel stop at Salado, TX. One of these days I'm going to stop and do a tandem jump. BTW, the new rest areas here are AWESOME! Huge truck parking area, a workout area, playground and very attractive buildings. My only complaint is that the pet walk area is a mud hole when it rains and full of burrs the rest of the time.

Cow on the loose

Actually it's just a calf. He/she had somehow gotten out of the pasture and was trying to get back to its mama when we came by. Poor baby.

Reflections

Not a great photo but kind of interesting with the layers of reflections. Taken on Hwy 19 at the stopt light in Emory, TX.

Icy-Hot

Not only did my vacation get cut short by 1/2 a week I have somehow managed to pull a muscle in my left hip. I'm not quite sure exactly when or how I did it other than it was Wednesday night at some point. I think it was a combo of twisting and bumping into something at the same time while trying to put my truck back together after shutting down at Hurricane Mills, TN for the evening but for the life of me I can't place WHEN or HOW.......I know Terry has mentioned that she'll come up with these mysterious bruises but she pulls a flatbed so there's a huge amount of physical stuff involved with that but all I was doing was putting stuff away. Maybe I twisted funny in my sleep......Anyway the pain is located on the side of my left hip right on the bone.

Hurricane Mills is one of my favorite places to run esp. if I take the route to the east but it was a huge mistake to go that way Thursday. I'd woke up with my hip aching but thought it would work itself out once I got moving. Silly me didn't think about the hills and the gravel! Got started running, was ok, kind of achy but bearable. Then I hit the gravel road.............Uneven surface + hills = way more twisting than what my poor body could take. Evidently I started taking much shallower breaths and slightly holding my breath whenever my foot would hit the ground so I ended up with the mother of all stitches in my right side. Imagine a very sharp needle digging into a nerve and that will get you close to the pain I was in.

Crunch. Left foot hitting the gravel.

Spasm on left hip

Crunch. Right foot hitting the gravel

Sharp needle digging into abs on right side.

Crunch. Spasm. Crunch. Sharp needle.

Yeah, I ended up taking some major walk breaks. Once I got back on pavement I was able
to run again without much pain, but I really, really, really should have turned around the moment my left hip started spasming instead of trying to tough it out to get my 4 miles done. My fragrance of choice this week since then has been Eau de Icy-Hot. Very appealing, LOL!

Other stuff for the week

James and I got to run (drive!) with Terry from Little Rock to W. Memphis, yay! I'm afraid I wasn't very good company though 'cause I was sulking at James for him deciding we needed to go back to work earlier than what I wanted. Yes, we drive separate trucks but if I wanted to get back on some semblance of a normal hometime schedule with him I had to leave out too. Marriage=compromise (on both sides).

The trailer I picked up at Mt. Juliet had THREE bad tires. One bald on the outer half, one with flat spots, and the third with flat spots and cord showing. I'm lucky that I was able to make it back to a company shop with the latter. It also had some rail damage that couldn't be repaired with the trailer loaded, will just have to watch for the trailer to come back across with the empties and have it transloaded so that it can be fixed.

I'm having to lay over in Laredo this weekend. The trailer that I was supposed to pick up isn't here and I can't get the weekend dispatch to switch me over to one of the other Mt. Juliet trailers that are here. Called in yesterday (Saturday) morning with the info about the loads that are on our yard and was told that they were already preplanned on other drivers but this was after being told there weren't any there at all. When I gave the info about what was actually on the yard, there was a huge pause and you could almost hear the guy's brain scrambling to come up with a reason why I couldn't be planned on one of those. Don't guess it matters a huge bunch because I have until Wednesday to get back to Mt. Juliet but would much rather be sitting at home than down here right now. I'm not crazy about the 100F+ temps, lol. And James is staying here too (his trailer was here but he has a Wed. appt. too so no hurry).

Walked a lot yesterday shopping and with Elsie so my hip was a little tender again this morning. Instead of trying to tough out a run I'm taking it easy--well, trying to anyway, this is very frustrating. James is starting over on the couch to 5k plan so that was my workout this morning, a little bit of running with a lot of walking. My hip would kind of twinge a little when we'd start out on the run part but within seconds it would loosen up. Hopefully by next weekend this will all have been a bad memory.

Woolly Hollow State Park hike

Lazy days--sort of

James and I have been on vacation the past 1.5 weeks and it has (mostly) been very lovely. We managed to get quite a lot done around the house (although not near what should've been done, eep). I've been able to get in some 2 a day workouts, something that is nigh near impossible while I'm driving during the week.

Yesterday we checked out a new to us state park for some flat water kayaking and picnicking. We're hoping that Elsie will decide she likes to float around on the water and I think she would if it wasn't for one small little bitty detail--we have separate kayaks and it drives her absolutely bonkers that James and I are not in the same one. Elsie spent what little time we were on the water jumping into the lake swimming back and forth between us and whining. So the plan is to rent a canoe next time or leave her at home.

This is not a happy kayaker! And yes, she gets to wear a life jacket--it has a handle at the top that comes in super handy when she jumps out and swims to the other person.

Oh, the lake we went to is Lake Bennett at Woolly Hollow State Park, very small, only about 40 acre of water. But it is very pretty and during the week not near as crowded as Greers Ferry. Nice clean bathrooms, beach area for swimming, and nothing larger than a trolling motor allowed. There is also a 3.5 mile trail around the perimeter of the lake/cabins/park area that I plan to run on sometime before the year is up. It's too far to drive just for a run but James and I plan to make several return visits so he can fish while I just paddle/float around.

Cabin and historical marker.

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everybody is enjoying the holiday here in the states. I did want to direct everybody to Truckin TedyBehr's blog because he has a quite nice and informative post about the significance of July 4th. Much better than I could ever hope to write, well done TedyBehr!

The goodie bowl

The runner/cyclists version of a candy bowl!