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Cottula, TX

Cottula, TX butterfly and flowers

Butterfly massacre on 35

Butterfly massacre on 35

Cross your fingers

Trying out something new tomorrow--mountain biking! Excited and nervous--hoping I don't have any major mishaps. A group of us are driving down tomorrow to Hot Springs to ride what is supposed to be some of the easiest trails in Arkansas. Ha-ha, bunny slopes for cyclists!! Four newbies and 1 hard-core mountain biker--should be fun (I hope). James already has his mountain bike on layaway, I'm waiting for the Durango femme to come in before I make a decision but if it's anything like the guys Durango it's the one I'll get. I'm still planning on a new road bike but the manufacturer of the one I've chosen said to check back in mid-November and MAYBE then they'd have some bikes.

I like my attitude just fine, thankyouverymuch

Why can some people not take no for an answer? Had a driver pull up next to me and blow his horn to get my attention today while I was sitting waiting on the ok to dock (he drives for the same company I do) at Pulaski. I was in the sleeper so he didn't know if I was asleep or not, very, very, very rude to do that to somebody that may be trying to get a nap. I've seen him multiple times at Laredo and every time he sees me he's pulling on that air horn so I always do my best to ignore him. It irritates me to no end to have somebody always doing that to me. Anyway, he starts telling me how he thought I had an attitude and was rude and mean. Guess what, I DO have an attitude and I'm damned if I'm going to go out of my way to speak to somebody who's always blowing a horn at me, wanting me to come over to his truck. If he wants to talk that bad he can get off his lazy butt and walk up to me. I'm not going to go stand on the steps of his truck like some lot lizard. Oh, and me telling him that I'm married had absolutely no effect. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Believe it or not prior to this I was in an excellent mood. Had an awesome run this morning at Crump, TN--5.59 miles in 52:19, with some drills (grapevines, skips, high knees, butt kicks) for an additional .42 miles. Felt great and energized--at least until the "come on now, don't be like that" business from the jerk of a co-worker.

Family Resemblance

Betcha could never guess we're related!!

Tour de Pumpkin

After the 5k was the Tour de Pumpkin bicycle ride. You had a choice of 17 or 30 miles so James and I went with the 30 mile option. I was kind of worried about how I was going to hold up since I hadn't done any distance to speak of since the BDB 100 on Sept. 27 but I felt great! I wasn't in any hurry so just stayed with James instead of trying to set any speed records. Absolutely gorgeous ride, James grew up in the area we rode through but it has changed so much over the past 20 years. Very hilly but I was happy that I only had to drop into the granny ring once--different story for James but he hasn't put in as many miles as I had this summer. He still held up great but I've got to admit that it was kind of fun beating him up the hills. That won't last though, he put a mountain bike (Jamis Durango 1) on layaway at our local bike shop today and has plans to start hitting some off-road trails. Guess I need to think about trying it too but I've already decided that I'm buying a BMX helmet before attempting it. My track record is not so great this year with injuring myself, ha-ha!


My only gripe about the ride this morning was that some rider or riders threw their empty gel wrappers on the road. This was not a closed course with a crew picking up the trash afterwards and litter is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. That's part of what the back pockets on the back of your cycling jersey is for, your trash and gear.


James and I both won door prizes after the Tour de Pumpkin, I got a $5 gift certificate to a local BBQ joint and he won a small combo meal from Quiznos. Since they were only good for the Russellville area we gave them to Mike for puppysitting Elsie. It'll give him an incentive to get out and explore the area.

Stupid blogger

No, not me or anybody else, just this site giving me fits. Sorry about the previous post running together but I've tried over 10 times to fix it and it's frustrating the heck out of me. Maybe I can get it to look right in the morning. Until then, sorry about the great mass of words. I want paragraphs darn it (that's not what I'm saying out loud but trying to be polite for everybody).

Fall Fest 5k

Ummm, I kicked some butt today!!!!! Finally got over the 25 minute hump for the 5k distance--at least for today, LOL! 24:17 (last year's time for this course was 26:11). This isn't a p.r., my 23:56 from last February's Penguin 5k at Batesville still holds, but I was starting to think that I wasn't going to get under 25 minutes ever again. I am so stoked right now-even over 12 hours later, still got the runner's high. 1st in my age group (1/21), 9th female (9/95), and 35th overall (35/152). Several of the Cabot Cruisers were here today too (Vicki, Joan, Lisa Ford)

Very chilly morning, I so didn't want to give up my jacket but knew from past experience that I would warm up very quickly. Started near the front, kept a steady pace (7:57 mile 1, 15:5? mile 2), skipped the water stop, started to lag a little after mile 2 but caught myself doing it and forced myself to speed back up slightly, and started my kick at about 2.7 miles. Got cheered on by James, my sis and niece, and biological father so that helped me kick it a little bit more (didn't have a lot left though).

James told me afterwards that Shelley (my sister) asked him if I had any Olympic aspirations. There is no way in Hades that that could ever happen but it is the sweetest thing that she even thought it would ever be possible. I don't usually discuss our background very much but I want the world to know how proud I am of her as a parent and grown-up. We came from a very screwed up childhood and most people thought we weren't going to amount to much and I'm very happy that we have proved them wrong. Although Sis and I have kind of reversed roles, she was the wild child growing up and I was the honor roll student. Now she's a Sunday school teacher, and I'm a tattooed truck-driving biker chick (does it still count if my bicycle has seen more miles than my Harley this year?), LOL!!!!!

Oh, I have to tell a cute story. Our original plan was to drive to Russellville on Friday to spend time with Andy and Abigail (nephew and neice) but we found out before we left that Andy had come down with pinkeye. Since we're not in a position to take sick days and our job requires to be staring into the sun most of the day, James and I decided to put off the overnight visit. Andy was so upset he asked his mom if she had any white nail polish, when she told him he didn't need to paint his nails he told her it was for his eye so it wouldn't be pink anymore. He was so upset that he wasn't going to get to see his aunt and uncle, awwww. We're going to try again week after next for the overnight visit.

Politics

No, I'm not going on a rant about who is right, wrong, etc., etc. I get more than enough of that from the c.b. and satellite radio (podcasts have saved my sanity this year). James and I are taking advantage of the early voting tomorrow so that will take care of part of our civic duties. I just wanted to share just a small portion of the idiocy that I heard this morning driving on into N. Little Rock. Some guy was on the c.b. saying that Congress, the banks, and the rich MAN was solely to blame for the mortgage crisis, it wasn't the fault of people who bought the overpriced houses or applied for multiple credit cards. Umm, last time I checked there weren't hordes of bankers/real estate agents/congresspeople holding guns to people's heads forcing them to sign those closing papers. Granted, when we bought our house there was some sales pressure from the agent about how we could qualify for a house that was $25,000-30,000 more than the range we were looking in but I had done my homework, knew what our interest rate was going to be, the closing costs, and what we could comfortably afford for a monthly mortgage payment. It was easy, I just said "No thanks" and smiled at her.

Where am I going with this? Personal responsibility. I am so sick of people asking "What are you going to do for me?" when they should be asking "What can I do to make this better?" Anyway, do your civic duty--VOTE (even if getting called up for jury duty is a major p.i.t.a.).

Brrr, it's chilly

Just got back in from a run and boy was it cold! I didn't think I was ever going to warm up. Thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on the bicycle trail though. The leaves are starting to fall, the red berries are making their appearance, squirrels were frolicing--wished I had a camera with me.





Not a whole lot exciting to write about this week, same old song and dance with work. Got out even later than usual Monday but still managed to get in this morning--had 3 weeks of recycling that needed to be put out on the curb. Oh, I did have a near-miss yesterday driving through Austin, some guy driving a Peterbilt daycab pulling a heavy-haul flatbed trailer (empty) decided that he didn't need to use the full on-ramp to merge into traffic. I had a car next to me but would've been able to move over before the dotted line started but the local driver had to be in that lane right then, he started moving over right at the point where the concrete came together. He wasn't even past where the 2 solid lines of our respective lanes met when he decided to share my lane. Kind of hard to explain without pictures but trust me it was a little on the scary side for me.

It's been a while since I updated my running totals on the blog. This month is going to be the highest mileage month ever for me, already at 95.6 miles, YAY!!

10/12 Sunday--13.2 miles with some of the Cabot Cruiser women. I've decided that the best way to get a long run is with a group--the time absolutely flew by.

10/13 Monday--3.16 miles, ran the cow fields at Pulaski for a recovery run.

10/15 Wednesday--6.14 miles, Cotulla, absolutely miserable. It was humid and I'd slept in so got a later start than I should've. Took several walk breaks.

10/17 Friday--2.57 mile run/walk with James followed by a 3.52 mile tempo run.

10/18 Saturday--4.13 mile easy run

10/19 Sunday--7.98 mile long run. Did this one after the disc golf game (where I made par on 4 of the holes!!!).

10/21 Tuesday--5.07 miles in Prescott. Was tired of the frontage road run so did the scenic downtown tour. Looks like they may be starting some renovations but still fairly rundown.

10/23 Thursday--5.31 miles at home. Chilly, my legs hurt, and I had to force myself out the door. I was in a hurry yesterday but I really, really, really wanted to get out for a run. Lesson learned--if your body and mind say run, do it, because if you don't they'll make you pay for it the day after.

I need to get new shoes already. I can't seem to get over 300 miles on a pair before my feet and legs start aching.

Weekend plans include driving to Russellville tomorrow to spend time with my sister, the Downtown Fall Fest 5k and the 30 mile Tour de Pumpkin bicycle ride on Saturday. Unless I get off my lazy butt today and ride, Saturday will be only the 2nd time since the BDB 100 that my bicycle has been out of the shed.

ugh-sick day

I feel like crap today. Hoping it's just the result of getting woke up at 2:17 am this morning and not being able to go back to sleep, but I feel slightly feverish, have a sore throat and the room is moving occasionally when I'm not. So not a good sign, LOL!! Anyway, hopefully mainlining orange juice and a good night's sleep will have me back to normal in the morning. Or at least as normal as I get--according to James' Atlas friends I've completely lost it.

Why I'm stressed

Forgot to mention in my jillion other posts today about why I've been stressed this week. Found out Wednesday that my biological father's dad died that afternoon and that he (my father) will be moving to Arkansas by the end of the month. Thankfully, he will be living close to my sister approximately a hundred miles away from me. We also had an appointment to take Elsie in to be fixed on Friday so we're dealing with a sick and upset dog right now. I'd been worrying about that all week so that contributed to my not sleeping well. It's very depressing having a miniature schnauzer stare at you with this look of "what have you done to me?". She was so excited to get to the vet's office yesterday (the girls pet and love on her) and when we went back to pick her up she wouldn't even look at James or me.

Faith Support Ministry 5k and the World Wide Festival of Races

I kept waffling between running the FSM 5k at Cabot and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Little Rock all week. Decided on the Cabot race because it didn't start until 9 a.m and I could sleep later!! It was a great little race! Annette, Jane, Michelle, and a few other cruisers ran it too so it was very nice having a smaller race where you could socialize and cheer each other on without having the crush of a larger crowd. The only downsides--there was one of those invisible inclines that felt like it was never going to end for the first mile or so and it was HUMID!!!!!!! Even with a warmup I was having some trouble with my breathing because of the humidity.

1st mile was just under 8 minutes, 2nd mile was 16:06, no clue what the 3rd mile was and finish time was just over 25 minutes. AGAIN. Can't remember the exact time, I forgot to turn my garmin off right away, and the times aren't posted yet. At least my 5k times are consistent.

I had a group of 3 firefighters catch up and pass me just before the mile 1 timekeeper and I fell in with them for a while. I'm not so sure they liked having a girl more or less keeping up with them though. One of the 3 wasn't in as good of shape as the other 2 and he was struggling. He was also wearing THREE cotton shirts, 1 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve, and 1 tank. How do I know this? He started stripping about 1.5 miles in. I had to ask him how many layers he was wearing, I was in a short sleeve UA tee and was hot before the race even started but evidently he was cold.

The other 2 firefighters were slowly pulling away and got even more of a lead at the water stop. I had to grab a sip and pour some down my back to cool down though. On the way back there were a couple of overweight police officers that were telling the ff behind me to get going, that he couldn't let Gramma just ahead of him beat him. Since I was the only woman just ahead of him in sight I'm assuming they were meaning me. Guess I really need to cover that gray spot I've got showing, huh? I'm betting they really didn't mean me, were just giving him a hard time but it's still kind of funny.

I started speeding up with about 7/10 of a mile left and kicked it enough that I was directly behind the first 2 f.f.s when I finished but again it still wasn't enough to get me under 25 minutes. Could I have done any better today? I don't think so. I started in the front, I kept the speed at a level that was just on the uncomfortable side, I was nauseous at various points and I picked up the pace near the end further out than I normally do. So, how do I get under 25? Need to start doing more tempo runs so that I can get used to the discomfort and some actual speed workouts wouldn't hurt. It would probably also behoove me to start carrying one of my small water bottles so I wouldn't have to slow for the water stops on these shorter races on the hotter days. When it's cooler I don't have to worry about it but right now I'm needing the hydration. I also need to start hydrating more during the week.

No age group awards at this race, just the top 3 male and female under 18 and the top 3 m & f over 18. Caitlyn Clinton was number 2 female overall and first under 18 with a time of just over 22 minutes, YAY!!!!!!! Michelle's son was also 2nd in the male under 18, double YAY!!!! I think Arland said I was the 4th female and Michelle was the 5th so we didn't do too shabby ourselves! I think all the super fast runners were either at the Race for the Cure or in Chicago for the marathon.

This by the way was my race for the World Wide Festival of Races. I signed up for the Kick the Couch 5k and tomorrow will do either the 10k or 1/2 marathon distance in addition to it. Unfortunately I was having tummy issues again this morning and was super stressed so ran off without my bib, grrrr. As soon as the times are posted I will do my race report on the wwfor site.

Tip of the day: Don't eat spicy chili late the night before a race and especially don't do it on a week that you've already had tummy issues and are sleep-deprived and stressed. 3 trips to the bathroom this morning didn't help my hydration issue any.

Lights on = dead battery

Thursday afternoon I did something pretty bone-headed. It was a nice afternoon and I decided to ride my motorcycle to the bicycle shop. Went in, researched some more bicycles and just generally hung out and yakked for 1.5 hours and had left the lights on my harley the whole time. Since I hadn't ridden it long enough for the battery to recharge itself of course it was completely dead. Tried a couple of times to do the push start thing where you put it in 3rd gear, have somebody push you, and then pop the clutch to get it going. It scares the heck out of me doing that because the bike always jerks real hard when it catches so that wasn't successful. Pushed it into the shop and Duane put a trickle charger on it while Becky gave me a ride home. I was soooo embarrassed! Friday morning I went out for my run about an hour before they opened and met James there afterwards so he could do the push-start thing if need be. It fired right off though after being on the charger all night. The good news is that I may have decided on a bicycle-Jamis Xenith Comp Femme--at least if they ever get any to send out. Jamis is saying mid-November before they get the '09s in and they're sold out on the '08s. The Xeniths are cheaper than the lower end Specialized Rubys and are better spec'ed to boot.