Still Running

I'm at a bit of a loss about what direction to take the blog in since I'm no longer driving a truck, I seem to be kind of drifting in that regard so any suggestions about what you would like to see (or read) please feel free to let me know.

Gratuitous self-pic because I'm pleased that I'm starting to get ab definition

My running is going quite well though and I'm even adding in an occasional cycle trainer session and now in the routine of doing 2 major weight/core sessions per week which is resulting in some nice changes in my body. The trail running is something I always look forward to doing especially when we can get out and hit some hills. Today however turned into a major suffer and sweat fest about halfway through and our entire group was feeling it.  Like most of the country we are under a severe heat wave (100F plus days that started last month) and NO rain.  Well at least until yesterday when small showers and a major wind storm hit the central Arkansas area.  One of those small showers popped up this morning midway through our run, immediately after the sun came out and turned the area into a sauna.  I was so sweat-soaked that I could wring the moisture out of my shorts and my shoes were sopping from sweat dripping down my legs into them. Gross, eh?

One of the many large trees that had been blown down yesterday

Looks like fall rather than early July

Forcing smiles because our legs HURT! Notice the lack of sunshine--that's about to change

Yep, this is when it started feeling like we were running in a sauna.

playing catch up yet again

I have such good intentions of writing a blog post at least once a week but I'm so easily distracted that those intentions pave the way to.......well, not getting blog posts done for sure.  So what have I managed to be distracted by?

The Chase Race 2 miler, my all time favorite short distance race.  This year I didn't get a personal record but still managed to snag 3rd in my age group--mostly due to everyone being sore and tired from having ran the Little Rock half or full marathons the weekend prior.  Due to extenuating circumstances I wasn't able to run with Elsie in the one mile pet race afterwards.

I also had a last-minute but VERY welcome house-guest from the UK in the form of Dr. Sue Black who had unfortunately gotten stranded by Delta Airlines in Atlanta (there were approximately 15 people that missed the connecting flight to Austin for SXSW)--after some searching by TWBrit for alternative ways to get her where she needed to be that didn't involve a greyhound bus trip out of Houston in the middle of the night, I asked him if she was ok with a road trip from Little Rock to Austin. Yes, there were flights from Atlanta to Houston, Dallas, and Little Rock that night but no more to Austin until Sunday (this was Friday night!).  I managed to help get her where she needed to be and hopefully didn't terrify her too much with my driving.   

The next weekend was the Big Rock Mystery Run, the awesome blog Arkansas Outside has a great write-up explaining what it is and also provided fantastic photos of the event for FREE!  I ran this with Brenda and Maria, had no intentions of racing it from the beginning, this was a fun run for us to get out and play on some trails with other like-minded (read: insane!) people.  Saw some gorgeous parts of the trail that I didn't know existed and a tunnel with knee-deep, icky water that I never hope to see again, lol.  Some parts were so steep we had to use our hands to clamber up.  Brenda ended up falling on her butt twice in the same spot on a creek crossing (sorry Bren! It was funny after we figured out you were all right).  I demonstrated some of my cursing skills on a climb that was killing my calves.  All in all, great fun, can't wait to do something like that again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's a link to an Arkansas Outside photo of me, yes I'm the one with the crazy hair and dorky grin :D.  

Finally this past weekend was the Spring Fling 5k, again no personal records or even course records set but I did manage to shave a minute off from the Valentine's Day 5k so there's some progress being made to being somewhat faster(ish).  Felt like I was gonna puke from mile 2 all the way to the finish line so that means I gave it my all, which on this day was a 24:14 (chip time), enough for 15th female overall and first in my age group.  Afterwards, way afterwards--too much stuffing my face with homemade goodies kind of afterwards--7 of us went out to run another 10 miles.  Yes, we ARE insane.

My medal was being held by Julie for this pic, her hands are much prettier than mine!

There's a lot more to talk about but it's mostly centered around the women can run clinic that I'm attending and that's gonna be very long-winded so I want to write about that in its own post (just not tonight). 

Oh and there's been a lot of this going on! Puppy cuddles and naps rock :-)

Trailing it

Yesterday was my first ever visit to Pinnacle Mt.........can you believe I've lived in this area for so long and never been here?  What a gorgeous place!!! And I can't think of a better first visit than to go with 3 of my friends for a trail run there.  No, we didn't go to the top--that's a hike rather than a run but we did get in 15 miles including some rather technical areas.

After last week's fubar long run I was kind of dreading and fearing this one........so thankful I was able to head out with the same great, extremely supportive group of friends......and I'm happy to say that while this one wasn't trouble-free it certainly was a redemption of sorts and a reminder that yes, occasionally I AM a runner, lol.

Thoughts on the day...........still need to find a nutrition source that's gonna work for me while running, I needed more than a gel at the halfway point, my stomach growled for 4 miles after that wanting food. The core workouts are paying off, no back soreness (knees, feet, left achilles are all a different story).  You have to pay attention!!!!!! The trails will bite you hard if you start daydreaming. It's ok to walk.  Laughter and fantastic convo even if it's bitching about how far we have left totally rocks and makes the miles fly by.

What are these berries?

These are all iphone pics so not the greatest quality

And then you get to eat!!!!!!!!!

Time is not on my side

I'm so going to quit promising blog posts, they're just not happening due to a lack of time.......and that's really quite frustrating because I do have a few topics bumping around in the hollow spaces of my brain that I'd like to get down before I completely forget them.

So what's up in the world of Gabby? Well, thank you for asking :-).  I've now moved, much closer to work and my running friends, although further away from my cycling friends.  Busy with work, missing my 3 day weekends that I had for the previous 4 years but I have things to do and I did volunteer so not complaining *much*.  It is nice living much closer because I can drive home on my way down to Laredo to grab a shower and check my mail.....Hey, boring stuff but it is the little things that make life bearable.......and this brings me to why I'm actually getting to write a post today.  After fueling at the purgatory that is the North Little Rock Pilot, I parked at the terminal, raced home for my shower, and upon arriving back to the yard, noticed a very overwhelming diesel smell the moment I got out of my pickup.

Thinking nothing of that, I walk around to the driver's door and am confronted with a huge puddle of diesel on the ground, yeah, not good.  Quick look underneath and there was a steady drip, drip, drip of diesel....I'm guessing one of the straps had rubbed a hole into the bottom of the tank but since it was night and I had no desire to lay in the diesel to determine exactly where it was coming from I just unhooked from the trailer and drove over to the shop bays only to have to deal with some moron of a driver who kept interrupting me while I was trying to find out who, what, when, where, why from the lead mechanic on getting repairs done.  Y'know all the stuff the dispatcher asks when you call in to tell him you can't deliver the load......

And this brings me to this morning.....laying on my sleeping bag aka bed, writing this post.  I am frustrated that I'm missing out on 1,424 miles worth of pay but so incredibly thankful that I found this while parked at my home terminal......The EPA and DOT fines alone would have more than wiped out any wages I would have earned not to mention being stuck out on the road getting repairs......oh and let's not forget the safety aspect of it........least of my worries would have been running out of fuel......yeah, there's a whole lot more that could have happened.

Ok, gotta get out of bed. Have a lot of unpacking to do still and I NEED to get out and run at least a little, all this ice has had me out of the trainers for the past 2 days, I'm 16 miles in deficit this week and I kind of have an international 1/2 marathon end of February that I've maxed out my credit card for so training is a bit important, lol.  Plus I NEED to go buy a washer and dryer that I actually have cash money for thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from my dad (still feel odd about accepting that but a very loving lecture from my sis kinda put the brakes on refusing it).  It is much appreciated though.