Make mine a double...

Happy Veterans Day! Thanks to all the veterans for your sacrifice, past and future!

My double header was quite the adventure. The adventure being more in terms of logistics than anything else. Race number one was about 45 minutes from home, race number two was a two hour drive. All in all it was a great day. The weather could not have been more perfect and I had a couple of fun races.

My day started out incredibly early as I headed to Lake Spivey for the 15k. For whatever reason I had it in my head that the race course was flat. Luckily, I noticed in a pre-race email from the director that the course was "challenging" so was mentally prepared for something other than a pancake flat race. I wasn't sure what exactly but they don't throw out words like "challenging" in an advertisement unless they mean it.

The race was very low-key. You could park right next to the number distribution and start line. One of the requirements of a perfect race allows you to park within 50 feet of the start/finish, don't you agree? About 10 minutes before the start, everyone starts making their way to the start. I am guessing *maybe* 250 runners are braving the 40-degree weather this Saturday morning with me.

The start is a long sloping uphill, at the time I thought that was kind of cruel but quickly came to realize that was the least of the hills on this course. I can honestly say it was the hilliest race I have ever run. It was constant rollers as we made our way through the neighborhoods and around the lake. I loved the scenery and actually loved the course as well. The director was correct, it was challenging. I ran every hill and loved every minute of it. The participation was so minimal that there were stretches were I could not see another runner. It was like being on a training run.

At the end, they had Chik-fil-a biscuits for the post-race offering. I believe it was the best biscuit I ever had. Isn't it funny how they can give you stale toast at the end of a race and you would still think it was the best food ever? (not that the biscuit was the equivalent of stale toast...) One of my friends told me once they were given some kind of lukewarm ramen noodles at race end and they could not enough of them. At any other time, I am certain anyone would think that they were disgusting. (Not that ramen noodles don't have a warm place in my heart - how can you not love food that is 6 packs for $1?). The results have not been posted yet. I believe my time was somewhere around 1:29. I didn't set the course on fire but kept a steady pace throughout. Do I get points for consistency?

Upon arriving back home, I grabbed a quick nap, shower and then fueled up for the second race. As I mentioned, Callaway Gardens is close to two hours from home so I had to hit the road in order to get there for the "twilight" start of 4:00. (I had wondered why they started at 4:00 since you might not be able to see the Christmas lights all that well. As it turned out, they have to be wrapped up by 6:00. Now we know.). I got to Callaway Gardens around 3:15. Another drive up to the registration kind of race. Cha-ching. Two in a row!

I had not been to Callaway Gardens since August of 1977. I remember the date because while we there, Elvis died. No, he did not die there but I remember my aunt gasping as she heard the news on the TV that night. I have a weird memory for random things. It may not make me rich but I can come in handy in a trivia game. Surprisingly, the beach area where the registration was being held had not changed at all since 1977.

I picked up my number, tossed my t-shirt and goody bag in the car and grabbed a last minute granola bar before the race. The start was a 1/3 mile walk from the parking area. I thought that a little odd at the time but in retrospect it is probably the only way they could mark off 6.2 miles and end up somewhere near a large building for the pre and post race gatherings.

A view from the right of the start


and the left of the start


Did I mention it was pet friendly? His legs don't seem long enough to go 6.2...


I enjoyed this race as well. I just kind of went on cruise control and enjoyed the run. Despite the 4:00 start, the lights were visible throughout so there were plenty of photo ops. My only regret was around mile 4 I felt like I hit a wall for a second. Just incredibly hungry. I am not sure I fueled up enough for the race and had not brought any jelly beans or gel with me thinking it was a 6 miler and I should not need them. Luckily, there were water stops every 1.5 miles and they were heavy handed with the gatorade mix so I grabbed 2 cups at each of the last two water stops and no longer had an issue. When I got to the end, there was not a lot in the way of food so I grabbed an apple and a banana for the ride home. Yes, that apple was the best I had ever tasted. Ironically, it happened to be my new favorite variety that I just discovered a couple weeks back, Jazz. Yum.

My race time was right around 59 minutes. I am pretty sure I am destined to be a pace leader as my comfort pace is 9:30 to 9:45 and I could run it consistently mile after mile without the aid of a watch to keep me on pace. I should just start bringing my own pace sign to the races and see how many people I can get to run with me.

The race was lovely. Perfect fall weather and the temperature of 70 degrees was quite a contrast from the morning's race of 40 degrees. Enjoy the pics and have a great week!

A Saturday Double Header...

I have big plans for tomorrow all of which start with going to bed crazy early tonight. I know, living large on a Friday night. Don't hate. For a reason that remains to be seen, I though the idea of running two races in one day seemed like a fun challenge a month or so ago. Tick tock. The races are tomorrow.

In the morning, I have the Lake Spivey 15k. It is supposed to be lovely and scenic and the race director's reminder e-mail described it as challenging. Hmmm.... I think I always go into these things hopig they will be flat. Challenging as an adjective for the race does not inspire. Is that lazy? I will say it for you, YES that is lazy. :)

In the afternoon, I have the Callaway Gardens Twilight 10k. The draw for this run is that Callaway Gardens has a hugely popular light display for Christmas and this run is the week before it opens. The course runs through the same paths the cars take to view the lights. As a girl who dearly loves all things Christmas, I had to sign up.

In the evening, I plan to catch some more zzz's as I will be completely wasted from race-a-palooza of the day. Can't wait!!!! Have a great Friday :)

Tough Girls Wear Skirts...

About a week ago, I received an email forwarded to me about a sale at skirt sports. I think it is a holdover from my tennis love affair but I am a skirt runner. I have shorts too but I love running skirts. In the winter, however, the running skirt is not all that practical. I have spandex type knee pants that I generally wear but didn't really have any full length pants that I felt comfortable in for running. They all made my legs resemble that a sausage link and that really isn't the look I am trying to achieve. Not that the sweaty body, head band, no make up look that I go with when running is either but...


Back to the sale... Buy $75 at Skirt Sports get a tough girl skirt free. I checked out their site and the skirt is normally $90 so a pretty good deal! CHA-CHING. I opted to buy a tough girl and then get a spare for free. Lord knows I can't be washing the skirt every day so I at least need 2, right? I placed my order. I had my doubts. Were they going to be too short, too long, too shiny? These are the things that bother me...

Y'all, I got my package today. LOVE THEM with a capital LOVE. The skirt has boot cut clingy type pants. Not real spandex but clingy enough to provide warmth. I cannot wait to wear them. The material is soft like buttah and extremely comfortable with an ipod pocket under the skirt. It comes in 3 colors, pink, navy and black. I am all about the black so both of mine are in that color. Mine is a small and seemed very true to size. I generally can wear a small off the rack without any issues and this was no exception. If you are in the market for some running pants with a cute little skirt for extra booty coverage, give these a look. I might have to give them a go tomorrow night for tennis :) Too bad they don't have a ball pocket.

My feet are still a little prunelike...

and I am quite proud of it :) The Silver Comet Half Marathon this AM was, in a word, wet. Not drizzly but more of steady rain for most of 13 miles. The kind of rain that would keep you in bed if you were prone to bailing at the last minute for these sorts of things (which I am). I probably would have bailed if it were a 5 or 10k. I was looking forward to the race and no rain shower was going to keep me fron getting out of bed at 4:45 to do it. OK, it wasn't exactly that easy to get out of bed but ...

I was actually there pretty early. I checked the website yesterday and it said the race started at 7:30. It turned out it was closer to 8:00. Luckily, the rain didn't start until about the time the race was ready to start so there weren't 2,000 people huddled under any available shelter. As I arrived an picked up my number, it was still dark out. I get my number, pins and timing chip and make my way to a crub to assemble everything. As I am doing so I opt to walk behind the lady giving announcements in the middle of the parking lot. I guess I felt it would be rude to walk right in front of her. As I did so I stumbled on her microphone cord and there was a brief moment of silence. She was dressed as a witch and gave me a little witchy look. I apologized profusely and scampered away quickly to avoid a curse being placed on my person. So much for not calling attention to myself. In my defense, it was dark. The defense rests.

The race was a fairly small event (or smaller than what I have been used to for longer distance races - this was not ING or Disney) so there weren't corrals. The organizers did do a good job of getting people to line up by their pace. It seemed to work pretty well. Even though the trail is pretty narrow I never felt like I was constantly darting in and around people who might be walking or running at a slower pace.

The Silver Comet Trail is a paved rail trail. Very scenic, quiet and lovely. There were no bands, no cheerleaders, no screaming fans, no Disney characters. None of the things I have been spoiled with in my past races. It was me, nature and about 2,000 runners. Quite the test for someone who appreciates a lot of disctraction as she runs. Luckily, there were plenty of runners who did dress for the occasion. Wonder woman, batman and robin (both male and female versions of the duo - which made me wonder who drew the short stick and had to be robin - how do they decide), supergirl, a pumpkin and some bunnies. The costumes were few and far between. I am guessing because of the rain or possibly the distance. Running a 5k dressed up like a go go dancer or an elf is one thing but to run a half marathon in the rain, well...

All in all a good race, not a PR but wasn't really expecting one. I am kind of in a "finish with a decent pace" mode. The race might have been a little too peaceful for my taste. It was a long out and back on a single road. At the end, I could have used a church choir or local HS cheerleading squad to keep my mind off of the long, not so winding road. I will give props for the nice race shirts and buffalo sliders (YUM). At the end on the water table instead of giving out paper cups with water or bottled water, they had large sports bottles with the race logo filled with water to take. They were nice bottles and a pretty cool idea. When I got done, I was soaked to the bone. My clothes were as wet as a bathing suit even after the hour drive home. My feet, still shriveled up like someone who sat a little too long in the bath. Off to take a nap!

It is all in your perspective...

Last week was all about perspective. Is my glass half empty or half full? It might get deep. For about a second.

Where to begin... Let's go with the deep and then get to the squirrel. Yeah, I have you now, don't I?

So remember the whole saga about my thyroid? Well, I went back for the 6 month check up and my doctor this time was a little less vague about the direction I should take. She said (or I heard) that the nodule was 3 cm and really that was the size at which they consider removal. I know I am not crazy, I am pretty clear on the conversation. As any good patient, I have googled enough to be fairly well educated on the subject. Well, as educated you can be taking everything you read with a grain of salt. I was resigned to the fact that I would have someone cut into my throat, there would be a scar, time off work. Basically, convinced myself it was no big deal. So off to the surgeon we go. I get there and he is is of the opinion that it doesn't need to come out. According to his chart, the nodule is 1.3 cm and not large enough to worry about considering I have zero symptoms. Of course he left the door open if I insisted but we came to the conclusion that it really was not necessary. Hmmm... Back to square one. Initially, I was kind of put off by it. I had kind of resigned myself to the idea of the surgery and being done with the whole nodule thing. I had to catch myself for a second. Ummm, hello Mcfly? This is a good thing. No interruption in the training schedule, no scarves and turtlenecks to choke you all winter and cover the healing scar. This is good news! The side note is, I am scheduled for the "next available" ultrasound which is in December. I might put it off until next year, it has waited this long...

Perspective lesson 2. One of my eighteen or so tennis teams that I am on got an invitation to the state finals. The catch is you have to have at least 6 players to commit to going. We found out last week and the finals are November 14th. WOO HOO. For about a second. It turns out mid-November is a busy weekend for half the team and we couldn't scrape together 6 people off the roster. BUMMER. On the bright side, I can still get my marathon (marathong... there we go again) training in wihtout having to sit at the courts for 3 matches a day that weekend AND I can hang out with my new favorite running group. Downside, I miss going to state. Upside, I have PLENTY of other things to do.

Perspective lesson 3. I ran 10 miles at Stone Mountain on Saturday. I had not strung together 10 miles in several weeks (or maybe longer) so it was quite the feat for me on this particular day. It actually felt pretty decent all things considered. For those who are not familiar with Stone Mountain, the map doesn't really do it justice. Basically, it is a 5 mile loop around the base of the mountain. Think hilly. Very hilly.




ADHD moment. Check this out, I googled to try and find an elevation map for the run and came up with a picture of my shoes I took a couple months back when I made those sofsole inserts in the oven. LOVE THAT. LOL.




Back to the story. So I am on my hilly run at Stone Mountain, somewhere between mile 8 and 9. My legs are starting to hurt a little bit. Not enough to stop but the first time I had noticed them starting to tire in this run. I pass this guy in a wheelchair. Not a racing, running type wheelchair, this was a regular hospital issue type chair. He was by himself. He was missing a leg. It appeared to have been recently amputated only because he still had bandages on it. He was wheeling himself around the mountain. Insanely impressive. I wish you all could picture the hills to know how impressive that it is to be able to wheel yourself around it. He gave me a high five as we passed. My legs didn't feel so bad anymore.


The squirrel! I know you have been dying for it. It is actually pretty funny. We had a squirrel try to make his home in our fireplace one night last week. Had he not pulled down insulation, we probably wouldn't have seen him. I walked in the den and notice white stuffing in the fireplace and the door slightly askew. I immediately slammed the door shut and peered inside to see the furry tail of a squirrel. Much discussion ensued from Rick about he could get the squirrel out. My end of the discussion basically consisted of "that sounds like a bad idea, let's call critter getters". In the end, we barricade the squirrel in the fireplace so he couldn't poke the glass door open again and called critter getters. Crazy squirrel. It took them 30 minutes to get him out of the fireplace. Apparently, the squirrel enjoyed his new home and was as strong as Samson. He kept grabbing onto the grate and could not be pulled off. I think he eventually got tired and came around to our way of thinking. They toted him to another neighborhood. Hopefully they are a little more welcoming of squirrels as roommates. Me, not so much.

Have a great weekend! I will be up bright and early for the Silver Comet Half Marathon. They are encouraging costumes. It is supposed to be rainy so I am not sure how much fun a wet costumed run would be in those conditions. I may have to leave the tutu at home this time. I will let you know.

Running in groups...

I found a group of runners not too far from me and was able to hook up with them for the first time this morning. For those of you paying attention (not to assume... maybe my Dad was...), that meant I scratched the 15k and opted for the group run instead. There were two reasons. One, the group run was sooooo much closer to home and two, I was anxious to hook up with the group and meet everyone.

The run started at 7:30 - not too painfully early which I LOVE. It was unusually cold this morning (around 45 degrees - I am in Atlanta people - that is crazzzzy). I couldn't even remember where I had stashed my long sleeve shirts this morning. We aren't supposed to have this until MAYBE November. The cold temps meant their normal pre-run parking lot chat was a bit painful as I normally dress for the run as opposed to the standing around in the parking lot. Luckily, the chat was brief. I am sure had it been warmer we would have all been much more interested in hearing what the chosen one had to say about negative splits and predicting race times but I guess it was not meant to be today.

We broke off into groups based on our pace and took off for the Suwanee greenway. The greenway is basically a trail that was built for runners, walkers, bikers along the Suwanee Creek. It is a really nice trail in that pieces of it are shaded. I haven't run on it in a while as Stone Mountain is more convenient but it is a nice choice for a run. Since it was so chilly, attendance was a bit down and there were only 3 other people at my pace. I ended up running with a guy who is training for his first half marathon. It turns out he is doing the half at Disney. I wasn't up for a long distance today so his suggestion of 5 miles was perfect. All in all, a great run. A little muddy in spots from all the rain lately but not bad. The trail was in surprisingly good condition considering all the flooding in the area.

After the run, we hung out at a coffee shop on the square. The group is making plans to run the rock n roll in New Orleans in February as well as some other local outings. I am so glad I went today. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed running with other people. Over the past year I had kind of gotten into my own regimen which is great for keeping to a schedule but sometimes you just need the company of others for motivation. I guess I had forgotten what I was missing!

In addition to the Saturday runs, they do a Tuesday/Thursday run at (GULP) FIVE AM. It is tempo runs and speedwork which would be nice. They swear that you get used to the time once you get into the routine. I definitely could make the logisitics of getting ready for work post run and all that work out but WHEW that is early. I am thinking that might call for a lunchtime nap. I am going to give it a try this week and report back :)

Does anyone out there have a Garmin? I know, that is like asking if anyone has shoes... If so, which one do you have and what is your experience with it? I love my polar heart rate monitor but think on days where I am not really doing zone training and just trying to get in a long run, it would be nice to see distances and pace.

Too Much Cardio?

Here is the link to the article about scaling abck on the cardio for weight loss....

Step away from the treadmill