The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly!

Today was a MAJOR learning experience - AGAIN! I am thinking that this is how it will be for me always. I don't think I will ever really know it all, and each race brings different trials. Today was a real test for me for many reasons - but let me start at the beginning.

I really had high hopes when I woke up this morning since I had such a good race last week with my 10K. We were up at 4:45 to get ready. We decided to use the DART train this year because of the parking situation at the race. Cotton came over and we rode together. We got to the race in plenty of time, but I needed to find the "break" area quickly. This is my normal habit - the problem this time was that we walked through a lot of grass on our way, and our feet got SOAKED! OK....lesson #1...pack dry socks! We took our break and then headed to the bag tent to store our bags with our warm-ups and after race "stuff". Once again this year we saw our dear friend Mary...she was Cotton's first grade teacher and she was so excited that he was with us this year. She couldn't believe how much he had changed - of course she hadn't seen him since he was in about the 3rd grade or so...she was really surprised at how tall he had gotten!

We went on over to the start line and Cotton went on up much closer to the front - we headed toward the middle. We warmed up and I re-did my shoes because my socks were slipping down and bunching up under my arches. I tightened the laces much more than I usually do - Lesson #2....the race is NOT the time to make changes in how you fix your shoes! The start was only slightly delayed due to some kind of technical problem with the timing mat, but only by a couple of minutes. The horn sounded and we were off......deep breath - and go!

The first 3 miles were really good. Felt good - had to keep slowing Rick down! We ran the splits in 9:54, 9:42, and 9:40. This gave us a time of 29:17 at the 3 mile mark. I was quite happy with that. The next 3 miles were almost as good - but part of this part of the race is run through a few of the neighborhoods around the lake and it feels like all of a sudden out of nowhere come these NEVER ENDING HILLS! Our splits here started to show how much of a toll these hills were taking.... 10:35, 10:54, and 10:47. I struggled more through here than I thought I would too, but still posted a 6 mile time of 1:01:34 - so right on pace for what we ran the week before in our 10K. This was actually about 4 minutes faster than last year and I was feeling better by then so I was quite pleased with the race up to this point.

We were still in the hills and mile 7 was run at an 11:04 pace. More than the hill though I was beginning to have some stomach problems. It actually started somewhere around mile 6, but it was really getting bad now. This has not ever happened to me before. I get up and run with very few problems, so this was quite the surprise. At 7.5 miles I finally knew I HAD to stop. We passed the water table and one of the gentlemen was kindly pointing out that there was a porta-potty just around the corner for the "inopportune" stops that some runners need. I rushed through the water stop and ran to the the other stop. This stop actually cost us close to 3 minutes....I was sooooo bummed! We did figure out that we had eaten dinner much later - AND it was a much heavier dinner than normal - I'm pretty sure that is what caused the problems I had, and we have determined that if we go out for dinner the night before a race from now on it will the the traditional spaghetti only! Lesson # 3.

After the stop I felt a little better and we were off again. During mile 8 I paid the price for the change in the way I tied my shoes. I started feeling hot spots on my arches at about 8.5 miles. Not painful, but not comfortable either. Incredibly, even with the stop we ran mile 8 in 10:38...(thank heavens for a few downhills here :) ). Mile 9 was where I was worried, this is where I pretty much hit the wall last year - this year I was feeling good other than the hot spots on my feet. Mile 9 split - 11:19 - and NO walking! We completed the 9 miles in 1:34:37. Our normal time around the lake (9.1 miles) is 1:37, so when you add in the "missing" minutes from the stop earlier we were still right on schedule.

The last 4 miles were not at all what I had anticipated. My feet were really starting to hurt but I was determined I wasn't going to let Rick know, I was going to just push through the pain and go. I did pretty good until mile 11 or so. We went through a water stop where, as planned, I slowed to a walk, but when I tried to run again it was so painful I couldn't. I told Rick about the blisters that had formed on my arches and he said it was OK to walk. We did for just a little bit and then I knew I would just be so angry at myself if I gave up at this point so I just kicked it back and ran again. Our splits here were: Mile 10 - 11:28, Mile 11 - 12:02, Mile 12 - 11:54. Somewhere in the last mile - I'm not sure of the exact distance we had left - slightly over .5 miles, Cotton found us and cheered us in. He was AWESOME. He had already completed the race and came back to help us during that last part. It was just what we needed! Mile 13 was completed in 11:56. Now at this point we should have only had .1 miles to go - but for some reason it always seems that at every race we run the finish is a little farther than the distance it is supposed to be. This one had .36 left. We ran that in 3.58...This gave us a Garmin time of 2:25:57 - that would have been a major PR for me....I do have to mention here that Rick stayed with me for the entire race this year - so even if I had kept the 2:25 it would not have been a PR for him...but it was GREAT having him right there with me every step of the way this year - even more so since I was feeling so bad through the entire last half of the race.

The "ugly" part of the race came after the finish. We went to pick up our bag at the tent, stopping for water along the way. I had nearly finished my water and tipped my head back to get the last little bit. When I finished the drink I felt a bit woozy, grabbed Rick's arm, and down I went! Passed right out! THIS has never happened to me before either! There was a Dr. standing right there and he stayed right with me until I was able to stand up and walk over to the tent where they got me a chair to sit down on. We waited for Cotton and by the time he found us I was feeling a little better. Rick and Cotton decided to go ahead and walk me to the medical tent and they found me a cot to sit down on and got me some more water. It was determined that because of the problems I had during the race I had lost more fluids than I normally would, and hadn't taken in enough to replace what I lost...between that and burning a lot of calories and not taking in enough of those either I just got a little light headed. I drank some more water and then we headed over the the food tent to get some much needed nourishment. After getting a little food in my tummy I felt MUCH better. Lesson #4...there is a reason that marathoners and 1/2 marathoners carry more than just GU with them during a race - next time I'll have some "real" food with me too!

Now for the official results. The clock time was 2:29:37. The official time this year was 2:28:08 where last year was 2:26:21, so I did not beat that time this year....ah, well....many lessons learned and there is always NEXT year!

The Human Race

Today we joined with thousands of others around the world in the Nike Human Race. Ours was held here in Allen at 7:00 AM. It was a little cool, around 47 degrees, and it was still pretty dark at start time - just the way I like it!

There weren't all that many runners here at our race in Allen - which was fine by me since the trail we were running on wasn't real wide - made for a "painful" start because if you got behind a group, even if it was a small group, you couldn't pass - you had to run at their speed until there was an opening.....this is always frustrating for me since I know I have to get my best times early in the race before I hit the wall...

It was really too dark for me to really look at my Garmin at the first part of the race, so I just went with how it felt, and it felt GREAT! There was water just before the 2 mile mark and I looked at my pace at that point and I was looking at under 30 minutes for the 5K mark...whoo hooo...well, it turns out looking and doing are two different things here. Mile 1, despite not being able to get around a few people easily, passed in 9:58. Mile 2, slightly faster at 9:52. Mile 3 was my slowest of the entire race 10:08. That put me at 29:54 for the 3 mile mark - and about 30:17 for the 5K. I'll take it - getting closer and closer to breaking that 30 minute mark!

The last half - for the first time EVER was actually better than the first half! NEGATIVE SPLIT COTTON! Mile 4 was completed in 10:02. This one I understood because I actually forgot to take my GU at the turn around and had to walk a small way to get it opened up and taken in....only a few steps - and I think mostly because my hands were so cold, and I slowed at the water stop too. Mile 5 was my fastest in the race - completed in 9:41! Mile 6 was nearly as good with a 9:44. I actually passed 2 people here in this mile...haven't passed people who were still running at this distance ever - I've passed walkers, but not runners :) I was happy!

The last .3 miles were pretty much up an incline. I chugged on up it, trying to pick up some speed and keep up with Rick. Just before I got to the finish line the girl I had passed in mile six came up on my left side. Luckily I caught a glimpse of her over my shoulder as she closed in and I thought to myself, "Oh no you don't" - I shot off like a rocket and crossed just a toenail ahead of her.

The last 3 miles were completed in about 29:29, and then of course you need to add the 2:59 for the last .3 miles, so my time for the entire 6.30 miles was 1:02:21! A NEW PR BY 5 MINUTES!
Can you tell I'm excited? Now I'm really looking forward to the 1/2 next month...hope I can PR that one too!

13 miles!

Today Rick and I got up about the same time as most Sundays to get on out to the Rock. It was a little cooler than normal, which makes me VERY happy. I simply do so much better in the cold! It was about 47 degrees when we started our run this morning.

Once we got "layered" up and stretched out we walked from the car to the road and Rick told me to take off - so I did! I felt like I started out pretty slow - it was feeling really good - but it turns out I did the 1st mile in 9:54, the second in 9:58...not bad times for this slow girl!! When we reached the 2 mile mark it was time to turn around and head back towards the car. This would give us 4 miles + the 9 miles around the lake so we could make our goal of 13 miles this week.

Like I said, I was feeling pretty good, and the 3rd mile proved it... another 9:58 pace - so the total for the 3 miles was 29:52. Pretty good for knowing we were doing 13! I just kept going....mile 4 passed in 10:14. At this point we were back where we started, so we went to the car and slipped out of the warm-ups - we were definitely warmed up! I had a little G2 - Rick took some as well - and we were off for the last 9 miles of the run.

Now it felt more real. We knew EXACTLY where we were and where we were going, as well as each stop along the way. In some ways that makes it a little easier. The miles slipped by pretty easily at first: 5 - 10:31, 6 - 10:40, (That gave us a 1:01:19 time here - just about where we were last week, and that made me very happy as well!) 7 - 10:32, 8 - 10:32, 9 - 10:47, (again - our overall time was 1:33:13 - 24 seconds faster than the week before - BONUS!).

At this point everything was icing on the cake...we had just matched our long run for the year...now it was a test to see if we could run the other 4 miles without walking. I was still feeling pretty strong, so I was pretty psyched that we could do it! Mile 10 - the 1st half - was just like the 1st 9 miles, then I guess I hit the proverbial wall! At about 9.45 miles out of the blue my legs felt like someone had added about 20 lbs. of weight to each foot! I just kept pounding the pavement and kicked that puppy out in 10:43:59. I was really glad Rick was there with me. It was at this point we stopped for our next-to-last water break. I was tired, but not yet tired enough to walk...and when I thought about how consistent our times were with the week before for at the 9 mile mark I just felt like I would be so disappointed in myself if I walked anywhere in the last 3 miles! Less than a 5K to go...we can do that, right? Off we went again. Still struggling mile 11 took 10:41:76. Certainly it wasn't like the heat was getting to me this time! Mile 12 - 10:44:17. We stopped again for water at the dog park water fountain. My thighs just above the knees felt like someone had tied double half-hitch knots in them - but we only had .73 miles to go...No stopping us now - right? As we came close to the car we tried to kick it up a little. We completed our last full mile in 10:55:77, and the extra little bit in 0:0:40.15 for a total time of 2:17:01. I was so happy with the run...no walking at all, and once we got to the car and I looked at the history, I was even happier....I told Rick - 13 miles, we finished STRONG, and not one mile took over 11 minutes!

I can not believe how well this run turned out. When I think back to when we made the decision we were going to try for a full marathon and started our training for the 1/2 next month and the full in December I hated to think about where we were then. We started with that 1st 2 mile stretch we ran today. We barely made it to the 2 mile mark! We had to run/walk back to the car because we were so tired and sore. To me this is an amazing adjustment our bodies have made to the rigors we are pushing them through. We are looking forward to our Human Race next week, and the DRC 1/2 in November. Since we will be running the 10K next week it will be the next weekend before our next real long run....we are going for 15 miles then...wish us luck - as always my #1 goal is to finish, #2 - finish with NO WALKING!

By the way - if you are looking for a smaller race to try...you might think about this race. It is a 5K race that was established after a 16 yr. old boy died of sudden cardiac arrest. The foundation was formed to help prevent SCA in youth through effective heart screening in student athletes. Just seems such a great cause I felt I should offer what little support here I could. Thanks!

Running with Angel

I don't know if you ever read the story about what happened during my 1st ever 1/2 marathon....but my angel helped me through that and allowed me to accomplish my goal. It was a totally amazing experience, one I will never forget.Today I had another amazing run, a run with Angel. Let me tell you about it!

Last night we took our son, Cotton, and his girlfriend, Angel, out for dinner to celebrate Cotton's 27th trip around the sun! While we were visiting we got to talking about running the "Rock". Angel mentioned that she would like to give it a try. She has only run a couple of times before, and I think they said her longest run had been about 3 miles. I told her that I would be happy to run with her if she really wanted to go. Cotton warned her that we get up REALLY early to go run, but she said she wanted to give it a try, so we all agreed we would meet there between 5:15 and 5:30 A.M.

I was really excited because, like most people, when I find something I enjoy as much as I enjoy running I like to share it. Angel was going to give me that opportunity. I found out later that she was worried that she would upset our training schedule for our marathon. Nah, our goal isn't the same as Cotton's! He is training to finish the marathon in a time that would qualify for Boston - so he has a very specific schedule that he needs to follow to accomplish that goal which includes long runs, intervals, hill repeats, track runs, etc. Our goal is to get across the finish line before they send out search parties looking for us! This allows us a bit more leeway in our training so I was happy to take a day to let her give White Rock a try!

We got to the meeting place at about 5:20 and they were there waiting for us. Cotton went ahead and took off and the rest of us warmed up a little and then we were on our way. Angel has a good form and she was running well. We got just about a mile and a half before she needed to rest a bit and walk some. This is what we had all told her she would need to do. She walked a little, ran a little more, and walked and ran. After that run she was feeling the effects of the energy drink she had that morning so we rested a little extra :) .... Then we were off again, in search of a good water fountain. We did the run-walk to the fountain and all got some water. Angel felt pretty good - so I continued letting her set the pace. I would just tell her when we hit each mile mark.

I really figured that we would get to the 3.5 mile water stop and she would be ready to turn around and head back to the car. That would give us a 7 mile round trip run - which is REALLY good for someone just starting out...but she said she thought if she kept doing the run-walk she could make it the entire 9.1 miles around the lake - so...off we went once again.

As we would come to different parts of the trail I would talk to her about our experiences running...like, "This is where I 'died' when I got ticked at some runners that passed me so I tried running really, really fast...I should have known better!", or "Oh, cool, we are nearly to the spillway - you'll like that, it is a great downhill for a pretty good piece!". After the spillway she needed to stop and adjust her socks...they had slipped down and bunched up underneath the arch of her foot and they were rubbing a little. OUCH...the beginning of blisters! NOT fun!

We got to the spot where I thought she might have some problems and I told her that we had gone 4 and 1/2 miles, so there was no turning back now, and that if she would run all the way to the next bridge I would tell her something really cool that she had just accomplished, besides run/walking the "Rock". She took off and we ran to the bridge. As we slowed to a walk I turned and grinned..."You just ran 1/4 mile UPHILL, after running half of the lake! What an AWESOME accomplishment!" I was just sooooo proud of her!

We made it to the next water stop and she pulled off her shoe and sure enough there was a blister on one foot and a hot spot on the other. She was still trying to run/walk, but Rick made her stop and walk when he noticed that she was really beginning to favor the foot with the blister. It was throwing off her gait, and that is a way to really end up injuring yourself. He told her not to try to be a hero, to just walk the rest of the way. I know she was feeling really good, and really wanted to run, but she listened and we walked most of the rest of the way.

For only her 3rd time running, to have run nearly a full 10K (6.1 miles) I was so impressed. We had a really good talk, she kept a pretty steady walking pace, and we completed the "Rock" in just over 2 hours.

I felt amazingly good through the entire run - I was able to run and talk, to push her just a little, and we got to watch the sun rise over the lake! What a blessing for me! I am so, so glad that we were talking about the run at dinner, that she said she would like to try it, and I am so VERY glad that she came out and gave me the blessing of being my running buddy today! Rick and I were talking on the way home, and we feel that we would love to run with her any week she wants to come and join us.....She'll probably end up speeding me up in the long run (pun intended, lol).....

Can you see how lucky I am? I have run with the Angels TWICE now!!!! Thank you ANGEL!!!

Labor Day 5K Complete

*********************************************UPDATE************************

The results are in: Rick and I both posted an official time of 31:35 for a 10:10 overall pace! He took 4th in his age group and I took 1st in mine....unfortunately, due to the length of time before ANY results were posted we weren't there when the awards were given out, so had to forfeit our medals......I am NOT a happy camper right now!!!!!!!

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Well, we finished the first in our series of races for this season, and as far as I'm concerned it was a success....I met the goal I had set for myself! I ran the entire race, did NOT walk ONE STEP! It has been a long time coming - since back in February when I ran the Cowtown 1/2....I don't know exactly what happened there, but I haven't been able to run a complete 5K since then without walking at least a little near the end.

We got up early this morning, since the run was at White Rock and parking is limited, and drove down to our regular parking spot at the Big Thicket. We walked from there to the Bath House to pick up our bibs and shirts - walked back to the car to lock up the shirts...(had them stolen at the last DRC race because we didn't have a safe place to store them!) and walked back to the Bath House to wait for the start. I was a little surprised when we got there and found out that the race wasn't chip timed - but more about that later! There were nice people setting up a drink station at the finish line, so we were able to hydrate a little with some gatorade before the start.

We walked over to the start area and got in the line towards the middle of the pack and waited for the "shout" - no gun - and off we went. I felt REALLY good...was into a good pace right away, feeling strong and not breathing too hard. The 15K racers peeled off at about .75 miles into the race so the pack thinned out pretty good there. At the one mile marker my Garmin beeped and told me we had just completed the first mile in 9:23 . This was quite the surprise becaue I just didn't feel like I was pushing that hard...I was still feeling strong and breathing easy! This is better than my first mile in any 5K I have run before by over 10 seconds! I did try to slow it down a little, knowing that when I start out that fast I generally can't get all the way through the race without walking and I REALLY didn't want to walk today!

We continued to run and just under the bridge there was a water stop where I grabbed a cup of Gatorade and swigged a bit down...didn't really even slow to a walk there - but jogged on through! Whoo hoo!!! The next thing I knew we were at the turn around. Still feeling good - where normally I would be starting to really labor with my breathing.

At the two mile mark my Garmin again beeped and told me we had just completed mile 2 at a 9:44 pace! Can you say AMAZ-Z-Zing!!! Still going strong...still able to talk (a little) to Rick to let him know I was OK. Then we hit the 2.5 mile mark....I guess that is where I hit the proverbial wall.....I no longer felt as good - Rick could tell I was lagging back and slowing down. He was very encouraging and kept reminding me to dig deep - that I was stronger than I thought and I could do this. We were going uphill at this point and I was really struggling to keep going, but I wasn't stopping!

We hit the 3 mile mark and Garmin let me know how much I had slowed down... this mile was completed at a 10:32 pace. (About my normal race pace) Still not bad, and I'm very pleased. I struggled up the rest of the hill gasping for air all the way and was sooooo happy to start running down the hill into the grass because that meant we were closing in on the finish line. Rick and I hit the cones leading to the finish line and we really kicked it up a notch and sprintedto the finish line (Garmin says we did this part at a 6:58 pace!) Once through we stayed in the chute to turn in our bib information to be recorded and headed over for fluids and bananas. After we cooled down a little we watched several other racers come across the line. I really wanted to stay and see what our official time was and how we did in the overall and age categories.

Here is the only place I really have a complaint - we waited at the finish for over an hour for the results! When we left at 9:00 they were still waiting! In this day of chip timing and computer mobility I really don't see any reason that the 5K results weren't being announced before an hour was up. As of this posting I still don't have official information.....It is for this reason that we will not run another Thurston Racing event until they get this fixed. It is a real shame too, because it was a nice event - well organized with nice volunteers....it was just the timing that made it frustrating. I guess we may be a little spoiled by the other races (even those that aren't chip timed) by having times posted by the time you get your water and cool down a bit. You can go check out the preliminary results to see how you did and leave if you need to.

Anyway....I know I reached my goal of not walking at all through the race, and my unofficial time, which will be a bit slower than the official time since I got all the way through the chute before I hit stop on the Garmin was 31:46...the best 5K time I've run this year!

I'm Baaaaaack

Well, it is official. Summer is over! Yesterday we had our faculty retreat and team building activity which typically signals the end of summer for me.

This year it was the best in a long time. We went to the Heard Outdoor Rope Challenge course. Our principal split us into teams that approximated who we worked the closest with at school during the year. 5th and 6th grades were in a group with the PE teachers, our Resource teacher that works with our grade levels, and her aide. We were a GREAT team. Even the folks at Heard said so. We were told that we made their job really hard because everything that they normally told teams to work on we were already doing. But then - we already knew that...we pretty much get along, both at work and outside of work. I think that helps.

Our day started out with a 13 foot wall to get our team over. There were 16 people on our team, 2 couldn't participate because of injuries, so 14 of us were up to attempting the task. The rules were that you couldn't use the rope to pull yourself up, once you had two people up top each time a new person got over the wall the person that had been there the longest had to go back down, and once you had been up top you couldn't help get anyone else over the wall (other than by suggestions out loud). We got all 14 people over the wall in a little over 26 minutes! Our two tallest team members boosted people up, then another member would climb over and push a bit more and the folks at top pulled people on over. The hardest two were the first and the last person. Our first person pretty much had to just haul herself over the wall on her own, and the last person we had to use an extra harness as a grip because she just simply didn't have quite enough of a vertical leap to reach the outstreached hand of our team mate. It was awesome!

Because we finished that so quickly, we had the opportunity to try the swinging log. The challenge here was to walk from one end to the other of a log suspended in the air. Easier said than done. I managed to make it without help from any of my team mates, but it wasn't near as easy as I thought it would be with my gymnastics and balance beam background.

After that, our second station was the zip-line. Normally you have to climb a ladder to some U staples in a tree...climb the staples to a platform, walk on a rope suspended between the two trees, attach to the zip line and "fly" down. Because of time limitations we were only able to do the zip line. I managed this one too - the climb up wasn't too bad, and I knew I could do the zip line part since I had done that at Sky Ranch. The scary part was that the platform is VERY small...it is really scary to try to sit down. There really wasn't a way for me to sit without looking down at the ground - and of course one of my great fears is heights. Once I got in my seated position I was ready to go .... a quick prayer and close your eyes, roll forward and you are off. It is a rush once you are speeding down the line!

After a quick lunch break we were off to station 3. Here we saw bungee cords strung in a spiderweb shape between two trees. The objective was to get all members of our team from one side of the web to the other without touching the cords and you couldn't use a hole more than two times. We quickly developed our plan and "carried" it out, once we had two members through (one rolled under the web, the other stepped through a large hole on one side that was fairly low) we started with our smallest team member, lifted her up and simply passed her through the smallest, highest hole. Then continued this process until we had everyone through. The next to last person crawled on the backs of three of us to get over, since there weren't enough people left to pass them through....and the last person simply rolled under.

Our final task of the day was called the mountain save. There were 3 platforms. We were divided into two teams of 8 people and placed on two of the platforms. One member of each team was blindfolded as an "injured hiker" We had to move from our platform to the middle platform and the to the platform the other team was on without touching the ground. They had to do the same thing. We were given two planks to accomplish this with. Neither plank would reach all the way across the space between the platforms. We figured out that if we placed one plank as far out as we could, had 3 people stand on the end of the plank to hold it steady, we could send one of our smaller team mates out on the plank where they could place the other plank - lined up - to the other platform. This created the bridge to go across. Using this strategy several times we were able to get all 16 people to the right place.

All in all it was a good day - and a nice way to get to know the new members of our team and see how they approached problems - how they "fit in" to the dynamics of the already established teams.

After we returned to the school, I rushed home to change clothes and get to the gym. It was a short run day - I managed 3.25 miles in 35 minutes on the treadmill and another 2.2 in 20 mins on the elliptical. Wish I could run as fast as I can move my legs on the elliptical!

Monday we have the official opening of the school year with convocation and workshops. Then I'll be off and "running" for another year!

Bugged again

After a brief hiatus I'm bugged again. Body Bugged that is. Back in March when my subscription was up for renewal I decided I needed a break. A break from strapping the hardware on my arm every morning....a break from worrying about how many steps I had (or hadn't) taken that day....and a break from typing in every bite I had eaten. I had been 'bugged' for over a year at that point and felt pretty good about knowing what I needed to do. And I've done "O.K." I haven't gained or lost much...just hanging steady. BUT now it is time to get back on track again. Having that marathon motivation going is just what I needed. I would like to get back down to where I was this time last year (that is onlly 4 lbs away) .... I know I'll feel better running if I do that.

The other cool thing - and one of the things I missed while not wearing my bugg - is when you do something special - like hiking the mountains in Colorado - you can actually see how many steps you are taking and how many calories you are burning. I think everyone that was there was wishing I was wearing the bugg and mentioned it at least once....good incentive. We have a couple more hiking trips planned this year and it will be interesting to compare those hikes with our normal weekend activity levels.

They have come out with a new version of the body bugg - V3. It is slimmer, black, and goes on your left arm instead of your right. I like it a lot better than my old one. It isn't nearly so obvious under the sleeve of your shirt....a lot of people won't even notice it at all.

So - I'm bugged again. This time though I'm not the only one. Rick is bugged now too. It is kind of fun to work with him and to realize how much you have to think about the activity to try to get those steps in! We have a tendency to think we are much more active, walk a lot more than we reallly do. It is the same thing I went through when I got mine the first time.

Yesterday was our first day wearing the bugg - by the time he got home I had over 6,000 steps to his barely over 2,000.... we both broke 10,000 before bedtime - a good thing and our goal for each and every day.

This is one more way for me to measure progress as I work toward the goal of completing the marathon in December. I'm not even kidding myself into thinking I can run the entire distance...that will be my challenge, but I'm trying also to be realistic about it....but the pedometer portion of the bugg is going to let me know if I'm working harder each week toward my 26 mile goal. We'll see how that works out as the weeks contine by.