Medina County Road Runners Meeting/Group Run

Monday, January 26th

We were meeting for a group run at 5:30 at Highland library. I was a little leary about running on the country roads in the dark, but it ended up being pretty good, it didn't get dark until the last 15 minutes or so. 11 people arrived, Pictured Left to right:

Frank, Roy, Ladd, Joe, Darren, Dan (another guy behind Dan I don't remember his name...) and me (three more arrived after the picture, Shannon, Patrick and Lisa). We did five miles the first three around 9:30 pace mile 4 at 8:30 and mile 5 at 7:45. OOPS.... I took the lead at 2.5 miles with Joe, and at that point I was the only lady still with the group..... As I always say "don't let it be said I held up the run...." but I guess I pushed it a bit fast. Oh well, good pick-up run! It was a great run, I got a chance to talk to almost everyone who ran, which I always enjoy! Catching up with everyone is great!

After the run was our monthly meeting, we had another 8 or 9 people show up for that. I know that Lisa and I aren't in the picture and 3 or 4 people arrived after I took the picture. We had a great speaker on how to run your first marathon. Lots of discussion on the 5k/10k this summer and on the new Logo for the club of which Dan came up with many great ideas some of the discussion got the logo options down to 5 of which Dan is going to Dr. up a little, then we will put them in our newsletter and have a vote. I hope that we can all get new shirts for this years race season, and maybe a banner for when we are at local races, to get new people interested in the group! It was great to talk to two new ladies I hadn't met before and one lady who has been a member for a long time I just hadn't met (Kim). It was great to congratulate Jade and find out she is 4 months along! What a great group we have!

COLDEST RUN TO DATE . . . .

It was 11 degrees when we started our run with about 7 degrees windchill, it warmed up to maybe 14 while we ran our 13/18 miles. Lisa met Ladd and I at our house at 8:55 we ran to town and around to Chucks house to drop Ladd off. Lisa and I continued on for the rest of our 13 mile run and Ladd and Chuck did another 10 miles together then Ladd ran his last 3 miles home by himself for a total of 18 (his last long run before his next marathon in 3 weeks). It worked out very well. Lisa and I run a little slow for Ladd so it was a good warm up for him. And this way we didn't push Lisa for too long, only first 5 miles. Really never felt too cold other than my cheeks.

Last night we had 12 people over for dinner to celebrate our daughter Cassies' birthday. She will be 13 next weekend. The picture above is of our son Kyle (14), Cassie and one (of our 3) nieces Sammy (4).

A Rough Week

I ran on the treadmill for the first time this season on Monday, it was to cold outside for me. So I figured I'd run til Marsha got home with our Monday night dinner. I warmed up then did something Chuck and I have done a time or 2 on the road, I ran 1 minute at a 6 minute pace, as fast as our machine will go and then 1 minute at around a 9 min. pace then fast again and felt pretty good. I did this 4 times til I got too sweaty and did my cool down til I saw Marsha pull in. So I hopped off and grabbed 2 pieces of Geppetto's pizza, ate'm and went to take a shower but felt a little funny. A slight stomach discomfort until after I showered then I was almost ill. I would have thought food poisoning but noone else got sick. I woke up at 6:15 to get ready for work and could hardly keep on my feet. I would have called off sick but really didn't want to miss the meeting scheduled for the end of the day so I went to work and it was a bad day all around. I felt like I was going to throw up all day, then came the meeting where 15 more co-workers got the news of their lay-offs. A really bad day. I ended up sleeping almost 12 hours after work on Tuesday, had to skip bowling too. No running Tuesday or Wednesday then Marsha asked me if I wanted to run speed work with her and Lisa in the back rec. center parking lot, so I ran from our house to the rec. , exactly 4 miles and felt my stomach beginning to rumble, I then ran 12 400's with the girls, 10 of them around 1:52 - 2:00 minutes and 2 middle ones at 1:21 and 1:27. Ended up with a little over 7 miles and still a little bothered with this stomach thing. Hopefully it will be better by the weekend when the cold weather makes it return after a couple nice days in the 30's. It's funny, before I was a runner 30's was cold and now it's warm.

Re-Cap of My 2008 Running Year - Ladd

I started running in July 2007 because Marsha's twin brother made it his goal to beat her in a 5k and he ended up getting hurt and not being able to run anymore and never did beat her in a 5k. In July of 2007 I took it upon myself for Mark that I would train for 6 weeks and beat her in a 5k for him. That first race in Valley City I came in 5 seconds behind her, the very next weekend I got her by exactly 1 minute. I really never expected to keep up the running at that point but look what happened. I ran 4 5k's and 1 10k in 2007. Then came 2008.

I ended up really enjoying running and in Jan. 2008 we set a goal of running a half marathon in April 2008. That race went well (1:43) and then soon after that we set a new goal, the Akron Road Runner Marathon. From not ever running to running a marathon in less than 14 months, I'd have to thank my wife Marsha and my friend Chuck for this. Now what is my next goal, ??? what's left maybe an ultra sometime this year, Frank would love to get me into one of these but I think I'll try another marathon or 2 before I think of anything like that. My first full year of running in 2008 was a great year and I look forward hopefully to a new year of PR's in 2009.

In 2008 I ran:

22 - 5K's - 19:12 PR

1 - 4 miler - 26:46 PR

3 - 10K's - 42:16 PR

6 - 1/2 marathons - 1:37:59 PR

1 - marathon - 3:52:23 PR

Oh what a beautiful day . . .

Today was an eleven mile training day. We had 4-5 inches of snow overnight, which made for an interesting run today, the temperature was 24 with a wind chill of around 11! We ran on the city streets, which was fine, had to jump in a few driveways to get out of the way, but we were dressed in bright colors so people would see us too. All but about 1/4 of the roads were snow covered and slick. It was a great run! It is nice to spend the time with my husband, doing something that is good for us! Makes for a great weekend when we get to spend all this time together!

Beautiful Sunrise

As you can see it was a beautiful sunrise this morning.... unfortunately I had to watch it from inside as the temperature outside was 1 with a windchill around 10 below. So another day of cross training inside! Outside tomorrow for 11 miles (high to be 22 with a windchill around 10), I am looking forward to it!

The Coldest Week in recent history

Marsha and I did a long run last Sunday, 9 for her 16 for me. I almost never take more than 2 days in row off but it was very cold this week so I just put it off day after day, then it was Friday and no running for 4 days in a row. It was -9 when we left the house this morning and headed out for the Medina Rec Center. I do have a treadmill in the living room but I don't like it much so we figured we'd run laps at the rec. We did 3 miles at about a 8:30 - 9:00 minute pace but I didn't like that either, 10 laps per mile, too many people and to warm. We stopped 2 times to get a drink and I drank all 20 ounces of water I brought and got overheated and slightly dizzy. We then went for a swim in the pool, did some laps in the mini pool with a strong current and sat in the hot tub for a few. Total time at the rec, 1 hour 30 minutes. Not worth the 14 bucks it would cost for 2 non members but Marsha won a 10 dollar gift certificate that was going to expire in Feb. so it was quite a deal for 4 bucks. We may go back someday if we have another really long stretch of cold weather but I would rather run outside in the mid teens than run inside again. It's still single digits today but going up to 19 and 23 Sunday. We'll do another long run on Sunday. Made my final decision last night and signed up for the Last Chance for Boston Marathon last night. It's Feb. 15 in Dublin. That week is Marsha's 11 mile run week and she will be joining me in the marathon for the last 10-11 miles to keep me going strong. A new friend may also be joining us so she can help us both. 6 weeks til March..................................................

COLD COLD COLD . . .

Tonight a cold front is supposed to come through the area, and stick around until Saturday. So instead of resting yesterday like my schedule said I was supposed to, Lisa and I ran 4 miles, and today we did our speed work. Yesterday, the run was fine, we ran on back streets in the city and just jumped off when a car came, which wasn't very often. Today, we had another 2 inches of snow this morning, and it was 20 degrees (10 w/ windchill) when we did our speedwork. We met at the back parking lot of the highschool and did 10 400's no problem, only one car entered the parking lot the entire time we were there. It was cold, but not too cold. I feel great that we got the run in! I wasn't sure the weather would hold off long enough, but it did, thank you Mother Nature! Tonight, the low is very low, with windchills as low as -15..... This is officially winter!

9 miles accomplished

Well the Storm hit!! We were hit with about a foot of snow yesterday. It was a great relaxing day! had to do cross training for my training schedule, which worked out well, can you say Shoveling? it was a good workout and I sure feel it in my arms today!

Got the 9 miles in today on snow covered roads, some were better than others, but all in all it was a great run! Ran with Lisa and Ladd, Ladd continued on to do . . . . I don't know yet as he hasn't returned (16 miles).

It is very beautiful outside! Perfect sled riding day if I still had kids who enjoyed that kind of thing but they are too old, how sad!

This is going to be a trying week for my training schedule as over the next 6 days we are expecting highs in the teens 2 days and highs in the single digits 2 days. BRRRRR! Oh well! Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I do believe I will get out and run a few miles before the snowstorm hits that is supposed to hit tomorrow evening, and rest one of the really cold days, later in the week!

A Snowy Run . . .

I left work at 11:30 in order to be home by the time Ladd was supposed to get home at 12..... At 12 it was really nice out, sun was shining and roads were clear. Ladd's replacement didn't show up for work so he had to work until 3. By three the weather had changed DRASTICALLY. We had a fresh inch of snow on the roads and they were slippery. We left our house at 3:30 (after shoveling the driveway). Ladd's thought was that the trail would be the best place to run as the roads had gotten slippery and the snow was coming down pretty hard. We headed to the Chippewa Trail. It was nice, no ice, BUT 4 inches of snow. I felt like a plow.... I need to get nine miles in sometime this weekend. Didn't happen today, we did 4 slow, difficult, beautiful miles. Then shoveled the driveway again upon arriving home (another 1/2-1 inch had fallen).

Tomorrow I had a group run scheduled and we were expecting 10-15 people. I cancelled that via email this morning at 7. Very disappointing... I planned this run a month ago, and was expecting some possible new members, guess I will just plan another.

Sunday, Ladd and I will head out for my 9 mile run. Ladd will probably do 6 more, for a total of 15, as he is preparing for the "Last Chance for Boston" in Dublin next month.

We're supposed to have another 10-12 inches by tomorrow at this time. So no running tomorrow, movies, games, hot chocolate and relaxation! Sounds good to me!

OH AND MORE SHOVELING!~! :)

Speed Work Accomplished

After being ICED out on Tuesday evening Lisa and I met at Claggett Track on Wednesday afternoon. The track was snow covered but not slippery. It was a great workout! Nashville Marathon, here we come....

Old Man Winter Dumped the ICE!

Lisa and I planned to do speed work tonight. I headed to Marcs to get salad at 5:30, got there no problem, in out and off to Claggett. On the way to Claggett I noticed it was getting a little slippery. I pulled in right behind Dan DeRosha, and started running with him after his first lap. He and I did two laps before Lisa got there, when she got there she noted that it was getting worse on the roads. After a couple laps Lisa decided to go home. After 2 more laps so did I (and Dan left one lap after me). Leaving was difficult, just walking to my car was a chore!!! I backed out of the parking lot and slid down the road a few feet, when I finally got to go forward, it was like driving on glass, sliding right, left, all over, took me over 20 minutes to go the 4+ miles to get home, slow and steady. Lisa got home safe and I hope Dan did too!

I did 30 minutes of aerobics, and will try for speed work again tomorrow afternoon.

Kids are rooting for no school!!! wow, guess I am too! If they don't have school, I won't go to work!

So going to bed with a spoon under my pillow and my pjs on backwards, we'll see if it works!

Ashland Blizzard Busters 5k

Great day for a race! This is my third time to run this race and the first two times the route was very icy, today, no ice, it was great! The temperature.... was 18 degrees..... Brrrr, but a-okay once we started running! My goal today was to break 24 minutes (I was over 25 on this course in 2007 and 2008), which I did with a 23:56 and won first in my age group! YEH!! Kyle struggled a bit today, because he hasn't ran since Thanksgiving. Ladd did well with a 21:11 (21st overall) coming in right behind his friend Pete. He took 2nd in his age group behind Pete (way to go Pete!). This race is always ran well, very smoothly. It was the first year they didn't have chip timing, but they had the results very quickly, still amongst the best ran races! Great venue. Held at a church, with plenty of room to stay warm before and warm up after the race. They have nice door prizes, which I have never won.... but today all three of us won one. Kyle won 2 orders of wings at BW3, I won a box of 8 plain Gu's, and Ladd (lucky, lucky Ladd) won 4 rounds of golf at The Westfield Country Club, this is a great gift for him, he is very excited! All in all a great way to start the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

We started our new year off with imagine that, a run. Marsha was to meet Lisa G. this morning and do 40 minutes of running according to her 4 months to a 4 hour marathon book. I wanted to do a little more than that and at a little faster pace so Marsha drove to the rec. center to meet Lisa and I left from home to meet them near Claggett. We joined up right near Claggett and they got their 4.2 miles in 41 minutes and I got 6 miles in, in 54:30. 3 with them at just under a 10 minute pace and 3 without them at around a 8:15 pace. That was more than enough for me, normally the cold doesn't bother me but it was 23 degrees with a windchill in the teens and it just cut thru me today.
Other than that it was a pretty lazy day, we slept in til 10:00 but we didn't go to bed til 2am. It will be about 364 more days til we stay up that late again.