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.

Goodbye 2008

Well here we are, the last day of 2008. We thought it would be a good way to end the year with a group run and what do we get, about 4 inches of snow that didn't start falling til after midnight. Marsha and I still planned on going but Lisa and Joe's sitter freaked out about the snow so we decided to skip it.
We took the Christmas tree down this morning and dragged it out to the backyard and Marsha got the house back in order (the scrooge that I am, I always love when Christmas is over) while I shoveled 2 driveways, the deck and a big pile for the tree to sit up in for now. When I get back into the house Marsha wants to go for a run, normally I never say no { =) } but I was a little sore and tired from all that lifting so we decided we'd start the new year off tomorrow with a run.
I last worked on Dec. 19th and on that day I needed to run about 60 miles before the end of the year to hit my last minute goal for the year of 1200 miles for the 12 months of 2008. After my half marathon run to Marsha's work on Monday I had 129 for the month and 1213 for the year. Not to bad for my first complete year or running. I averaged 101 miles per month and about 23.5 miles per week. Had we done our run today Dec. would have been my highest mileage month of the year but July was it at 134 miles.
1st quarter=258 miles 2nd quarter=300 3rd quarter=322 4th quarter=333
We're gonna do our normal New Years Eve with our bowling friends at the Simmon's house.
GOODBYE 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nashville Marathon here we come . . .

Today was the start of my training program for the Nashville Marathon. Lisa and I are doing the 4 months to a 4 hour marathon training program. (Ladd is doing a different training program....) Today we did our first speed work, 6 x 400 at a 2 min pace. It seemed very easy, but I am sure by week 8 when we are doing 16 x 400 it won't seem so easy!

Still having foot pain. I have been going to see Drs' Joe and Lisa for 4 weeks now for the problem. it always feels better after the appointment, lasts for 3-4 runs, then starts hurting again. Dr. Joe says it will take puting the bone back in place a few times before it stays.