Spreading my wings

As I was riding in the car the other day I got to thinking about my blog...how in my profile I say that this is about my my life - my life as a wife, a mother, a MeMaw, a teacher, and a runner - yet all I ever write about is my running. I think I'm going to try to change that a little. I'm going to spread my wings and write about Life...as well as the marathon!


You know teaching is so filled with contradictions.

There is of course the issue of testing - you know THE TEST! As a 5th grade Science teacher, of course the test I am talking about is the TAKS Science test. My students completed the testing last month and the results are due back sometime this next week or so and we are all anxiously awaiting the scores...the teachers at least as much as the students! There is a lot of stress and pressure associated with the test...it is one of my least favorite parts of what I do.

On the upside...there are those moments that touch your heat. They don't happen every day, so now that I have a place where I can "write" them down, I thought - why not!

Friday morning, during one of my Science classes we were working on an experiment. The kids were spread out all over the room pushing cars with pencils, marking down distance, taking turns nicely - discussing results...it was awesome. I travelled around the room listening to the discussions, pointing out ways to make the data more accurate - helping them check their results, etc. On one of the trips around the room one of my students glanced up at me and asked, "Can I tell you something?" (Always a dangerous question!) "Did you know that you are the main reason I'm thinking about becoming a teacher when I grow up?"

Wow! Out of the blue, no warning, no preparation...such a statement. It was one of those moments in teaching that you don't ever want to lose. I hope she stays with it...I hope she dreams big. I don't know what will happen to her in her future, but I do know the impact that her simple comment had on me! A simple moment I don't ever want to let go of!

Don't worry - I'll still be telling you about running...but I will be posting more about life in general as well.

White Rock in December

It's offical. We registered. We will be trying to run the Rock in December...no, let me rephrase that. We WILL run the rock in December! I'm excited. This is my goal for the year. I KNOW if I put my mind to it I can do it. I look forward to posting how my runs and training are going...follow along with me!

Lovejoy Country Run 5K

Today was a good day for a run. We got up early to get ready. We were both really tired for some odd reason, but we had paid our money and we were going to go run darn it! We strapped on the ipods and the garmin and we were off! After a quick stop for energy drinks it was up the road to Lovejoy. It was really close to the house, and that alone was nice - but seeing the organization of the race made it even nicer!
When we drove up there must have been 8 - 10 people directing traffic through the parking lot making sure everyone got parked in the correct area. Then it was off to the center courtyard where pre- and post- race activities would be held. It was nicely set up - and made for an ease of race day registration, listening to music and announcements, etc.
When it came time for our run to start (after the 1 mile run) it was a very efficient start. There was someone at the start line reminding everyone that the very start was for the elite runners who would be running a 6:30 or less time, and to place yourself accordingly - to stay on the sidewalk until the elite runners got into place. Rick and I walked to the middle of the pack - which is about where I need to be :) .
The gun went off right on time and we were off! The course took us across the parking lot to the main road, up a mild hill to the turn, along this country road where you could see lots of trees, a pond, a few houses, etc. and back the same way. There was a good water stop with lots of volunteers placed about 1.25 miles in on both sides of the road so you could stop both going out and coming back. The course was pretty flat.
I started out a little faster than I normally do - probably because of the cooler temps. My first mile was completed in 9:33! This is one of my fastest mile times since we came back to running! The other nice part of this was that when I got close to the turn-around Rick wasn't too far ahead of me. I think he was really surprised to see me that close to the turn-around. We high fived as he went by and I just tried to keep my pace going. My second mile was done in 10:27 - and that was with a slow walk through the water stop...by that time I was starting to feel the run, but I was pretty determined that I was going to have a better time this race. I was still feeling it the last 1/2 mile, but I was plugging along when out of nowhere I got the "heaves"...I thought I was going to lose it on the track. within .2 miles of the finish I had to stop and walk...Rick caught sight of me and urged me on and I did jog over the finish and had a respectable 31:34 finish to take 5th in my age group. After I caught my breath we took our stuff back to the car. I asked how he had done because I lost him after mile 2. He finished with a great 28:27! He just keeps getting better and better - I am soooo proud of him! After we checked our times we headed to the cafeteria for a wonderful pancake breakfast that was paid for by our entry fee.
This was a well organized, very enjoyable race. Everything had been thought out in advance, the signage was well placed, but most important EVERYONE, from the folks in the parking lot to the volunteers serving the pancakes were very friendly and helpful! This is for sure a race I will look forward to doing again next year to see if I can get that time down a little more!

DRC Rock and Roll 5 mile run

Today was a pretty good day to run. A little warm - a LOT humid, but OK. At 73 degrees it was warm for me - I do best in the mid 60's. There were a couple of glitches along the way but we made it!

We got there in plenty of time, but the parking lot was full and because of the rain they weren't letting anyone park on the grass - so we parked in the church lot on Garland road where they club had gotten permission for overflow parking. We walked on down to the clubhouse and picked up our numbers and shirts. Then it was to the porta-potty line. With three minutes to the start I gave up! (They had THREE potties for 600 people!) We went on down to the start line only to find that they had delayed the start of the race 15 minutes! I was about 6 people back in the line when I left - had ANYONE bothered to send word up to the potties then I could have stayed in line. I was NOT a happy camper! I really wasn't happy after the race when we got back to where we left our bag of goodies and someone had stolen it! Yeah - we had to leave the bag because the car was about a 1/2 mile away and we couldn't walk back and put the stuff away and then walk back to the start line again. There has GOT to be a better way to do that!!!

We finally got started and I tried to just run and not worry about anyone or anything around me. I looked down when Garmin beeped at me and I had completed the first mile in 9:57! This was my first under 10:00 mile in FOREVER! I couldn't believe it.. I just kept on going at about the same pace and figured I'd see what happened.

Well, hills are what happened! We came to this big hill and I ran up it, then we had to make a right turn and there was MORE hill. My legs were not happy, and I was having trouble breathing - so I walked to the top and then took off again. It seems I always have trouble breathing in the heat - so my strategy became run as much of the hill as I could then walk to the top and start running again. Finallly at the three mile mark we were pretty much done with the hills....that is a mile and a half of hills!

Back on the flats and I was good to go again. I felt OK, but I could tell I was wearing out. The last mile was really tough...at about .25 to go I had to go back into walk run mode. At about .10 this gal passed me up and I struggled to get back by her. I was successful and I was pretty proud that I had enough steam to pass at that point. Just at the finish line this guy came running out to her to tell her to "finish strong" and he was going to run with her...well I wasn't going to let her pass me - so I put on the after burners and took off. I DID IT....I beat her and passed another 1 or 2 before the line as well. Whoo hoo! My Garmin time was 54:50. Not incredibly fast - but about my average. I think if the course had been a little less hilly I would have made my 52:00 goal time...ah well, there is always next year, right?

Hmmmmm

Well, they opened the registration for the White Rock Marathon. I thought we were going to run it. I was getting ready to put it in my race list even. Then I went to register. $90.00! EACH! I don't want to pay $90.00 to run 26 miles and probably not be able to walk for a week. Are they all that expensive??? Am I doomed to not reach my goal of a marathon this year because I'm just to cheap? Perhaps this is the way I'm to find out that 1/2 marathons are the most I need to do and I just need to focus on getting that time down.... Hmmmmmmm I'll have to think about this some more.... Hmmmmmmm

The Great Race!

This has to be a post about more than a run. It encompasses an entire weekend, so please be patient!

We left home on Friday evening just about the time we had planned, after leaving our home in the capable hands of our daughter and son-in-law. We had a pretty uneventful trip, the only snag being stuck in traffic on 75 for about an hour, which delayed our arrival in Temple.

We spent the night in Temple, got up and had breakfast, loaded the car and went on in to Belton to visit with Rick's mom and aunt. They live in a nursing home there. It was a pretty good visit overall, and Rick's mom looks much better than she did the last time we saw her.

Then it was off to Austin. We called and found out that we couldn't check into our hotel until about 3:00 pm so we needed to find something to do in the meantime. We drove around and tried to find Capital Camera - a favorite place of Rick's back when we lived a lot closer to the Austin area. After NUMEROUS calls to Google we were finally given the phone number of a store that sounded similar. When we called the conversation went something like this:

Us: "Is this a camera store?"
Them: "No, this is more like a photography studio. Maybe we can help you, what camera store were you looking for?"
Us: "Capital Camera."
Them: "Oh my, that store has been out of business for YEARS! Ummm, there is another store for professionals that might suit you, Precision Camera."

So....off we went. (After another chat with Google, LOL).

After the camera store we thought we would try to find Mellow Johnny's...Lance Armstrong's bicycle shop. Another call to Google....unfortuately, every time I asked for Mellow Johnny's they tried to find "Miller, Johnnys"! Pretty funny...I already knew where my Dad and brother were! We had been there one other time so off we went to find it from memory. After some driving around we were able to locate the store. We spent some more time looking around there and determined we were pretty close to the hotel, so we decided to go ahead and see if we could get checked in.

After FINALLY locating the hotel, we successfully checked in an hour early and got our room. We also got a map of the 10K route. The start line was right outside the front door of the hotel! That was BONUS!

We were then off to visit with my "Austin" family. We went on out to Jonestown where my sister and her husband live. My Mom and Dad park their RV there when they aren't off seeing the U.S. (and sometimes Canada by accident!). My niece lives right there as well, with her 8 year old daughter. My oldest brother and his family live in Cedar Park which is close by. When we got to my sister's house my brother was there, but unfortunately his wife and youngest son were up here in the Dallas area looking at colleges!

We had an awesome visit! My sister cooked baked spaghetti for us (our carb load!) with salad and toasted garlic bread and brownies for dessert. It was great. We sat around the table and visited for hours. I haven't laughed that hard and that long in a LONG time...it was AWESOME! We had a great time. We didn't get back to our hotel until almost 10:00 and it was off to dreamland.

We got up about 6:30 so we could have a light breakfast - after all, it was part of the package! Then it was back to the room to get ready, check out our mail and etc. and get ready to run. We knew it was going to be cold this weekend so we had packed all our cold weather gear. I wore my long sleeve pink shirt, long black running pants, pink headband, pink Tahoe cap, and of course my running shoes...also my iPod and Garmin...I was ready to go!

We walked out the door of the hotel about 8:20 so we could be in the start area by the time the wheelchair race took off at 8:30. The temperature was 38 degrees but there was NO wind. It didn't feel that cold at all - just a little chilly.

Just as the wheelchair division started I realized I needed to go! I ran back into the hotel - but forgot to get the room key from Rick...the line for the public restroom was all the way from the back of the hotel to the front door so I just turned around and went back but by that time the starting group was so packed in that I couldn't find Rick! I was going to have to do this one on my own!

They closed the gates for the timed run and started the countdown. The gun went off. We stood. Finally we started making our way to the startline as I watched the clock overhead tick, tick, ticking away. It was at 5:39:9 when I crossed the starting line. (One of 6,644 timed 10K runners starting!) The course started out over the congress street bridge at a very slight uphill. I was a little stiff, but we weren't going very fast because there were just so many people! The route starts out at an elevation of about 468 ft. to slightly above 500 ft. at mile marker 1. At the road in front of the capitol building we made a right turn, ran a little ways then made a left so we could get to the back of the capitol. This was a steeper grade and we were up to about 530 ft. We turned again around the backside of the capitol building and there was a rollilng hill here. Not too bad, but you were beginning to feel it. Mile 2 was great...downhill...so deceiving! At mile 2.25 you hit the worst hill in the race!!! You go from an elevation of 500 ft. to about 560 ft. in less than .25 miles. My legs were feeling the hills already, but I thought I'd be able to make it to the top when out of nowhere the group I was running in just stopped and started walking! I was right in the middle of the pack and they ALL stopped! There wasn't any way for me to get around them, so I walked too. I walked as fast as I could, and I was passing a few of them as best I could, but it wasn't easy. We reached the top of the hill and started running again. There was a pretty decent downhill here and that helped - although I have learned you just can't let yourself go on a downhill, you have to control your pace here too! At about mile 3.5 you get to the best downhill in the race. What a relief to let gravity do some of the work! I looked down and I was running at about an 8.5/M pace and it felt pretty good, although by now I was wishing I was in my short sleeve running shirt and shorts. When there isn't any wind at above 40 you really don't need all the cold weather protection. You should have seen all the cold weather gear along the course that people were discarding! Now we entered the flatest part of the course and here is where the burn hits. you know you are getting close, you are so tired, you've used so much energy on those hills it is hard to catch your breath... you just really have to push it on through. I kept running and made it through the 4.75 miles right on pace (right at about 10.5/M pace). I really felt like I might PR this one...after all I only had about a mile and 1/2 to go, right? Unfortunately for me mile 5 starts going up again! This is right on a major street, they only block off about 1/2 the street, so you have to stay within the cones, so it gets a little more crowded again and you have to do a bit more dodging of folks than you had been. From 5.25 to 5.5 is the worst of this part of the run... After that it is on a slight downhill to the finish. I was able to pick up my pace, but by that time I knew I was too far behind my goal to PR. The hill at mile 5 had done me in! I knew I was going to reach my first goal though - finish :) ! That I did! I actually did pick up the pace the last .2 miles to just under a 10:00/M and when I stopped my Garmin it read 1:07:45.32. My 3rd non-goal was to finish in around 1:07:45 so I was VERY happy. Rick was right there waiting for me too!

We got the official results when we got home. Rick finished in 1:00:14.5 for an average pace of 9:42/M! He was 104 of 182 in his division! I am soooooo proud of him!

I finished in 1:07:44.0 for an average pace of 10:54/M and was 83 out of 181 in my division, so in the top 1/2...I'm happy with that. I always look back and try to see what I could have done better, where could I have picked it up so I could have made that 7 a 6, but for this race, and those hills, I'm happy. I know I will get better with time, I'm just going to patient and it will probably come when I least expect it!

Sunday Run

Wouldn't it be great to enjoy a sunrise run on the beach like this?!?

It was HARD to get up this morning. It was hard, but we did it. 5:30 we were on the road to Arbor Hills. I was just hoping that it wouldn't be so hard to run today. We stopped for a small cup of coffee - so I could wake up, lol- then off we went.
We got there and parked, we were only the second car in the lot this morning, and got ready to head out. It was really dark, and I was a little concerned we wouldn't be able to really see where we were going good enough to run...that turned out to be an unfounded concern as we headed out in the gray light before dawn. We decided on the more uphill version for the first lap this morning. We started out slow and steady and I made it a decent ways along the trail before my legs gave out. I walked - for a VERY short amount of time and took off running again. One more stop and then off again. During the second stop I was going to look at the Garmin to see how we were doing and the silly thing shut completely off! Then when it came back on the timer didn't start back again. This really upset me because I knew this run was going better than the last two! After the first lap we stopped by the car so I could have some light and see what was going on. I got it all set up again and found that it had stopped at .87 miles (our first stop!) We drank some water and took in a little GU and headed out again.

For reasons still unknown to me this second lap felt GOOD! This is the first time I've felt good running since the first 10 miles of Cowtown! I ran the first mile at 10:42 and the second mile at 10:43, so my pace was nice and steady and Rick said I looked more relaxed than I have the last few runs as well. My legs didn't hurt (well, maybe just a little - but it was certainly manageable!) and I felt strong! We got back to the car without stopping once!!! After this part of the run Rick and I discussed how much better this was and came up with a couple of ideas. Our first theory is that I simply don't warm my muscles up and stretch out enough before we start - thus my leg muscles "locking up". Our second theory is that I simply run better in the cold...our last two runs have been in the afternoon when the temperature was in the mid 70's...I know that I run better in temperatures below 70. I also know that if I am going to participate in runs in Texas anytime after March I have to prepare my body to run in the higher temps. I'm hoping that we can better prepare ourselves this year, now that we have done one summer running season, and perhaps become better runners for it! We discussed changing our run next time and trying out the shorter inner loop before we add in the middle section of higher hills to see if I can get warmed up better, or if this just poops me out quicker, LOL...Time will tell!

After our talk we decided we had enough time for the shorter, inside loop so we took off running again. We hit the first downhill slope and my legs let me know I was doing more than I should! I kept going but about 1/2 way up the next uphill my left thigh just locked up! I walked a little and then ran as far as I could. I had to walk about 1/2 way up the last hill, but I finished pretty strong.

All in all we ran a little over 5.5 miles and I feel a little better about the run next Sunday in Austin. I was really getting worried that I wouldn't even get a good start on that one. I guess my goals are:

1. To finish

2. To finish without walking

3. To finish in about my normal time (1:07:45)

4. To beat my best time (1:06:03)....

Remember, this run really has no goals for me, LOL!!!