Nashville Here We Come!

It wouldn't be a marathon trip without staying up until 1 am to finish the packing...and making the labels for the mixed CDs I made! Can't wait to show them to you guys and can't wait for the finish line!

These Boots

Seconds before I was about to make an early dismount from the bike, John makes everyone running the Nashville marathon raise their hands...(only me Amber and Deborah did) and then he played our theme song!!! It was like he was reading our minds! I was just afraid that maybe he peeked in and saw us practicing this morning...that would be embarrasing...only one day til departure!

30 Minutes + Striders

I thought this last easy week of training would never come! Yeah for only 30 minutes of running and some easy feel-good striders to follow!

Uh-Oh

This was Amber's reply when we started learning her choreographed dance and Lisa asked, "How do you do that walking thing?"

The guys are in for something good...

The Countdown Begins

Can't believe that in six days we'll be done with the (1/2) marathon!! Just spent a little time tranferring the course onto a Nashville map. It helped me visualize the course a lot during Vegas and it's just one of my special quirks...I do believe that we hit almost every numbered street they have (well 4th through 18th). It is very loopy but does go through every park possible. I just hope that the last park we hit in the 22-24 range has some people/bands for encouragement and is not just a dead trail...guess I'll check that out next.
Oh yeah - I went to Dick's to return my shorts that I didn't like and I found a stunning red longsleeve dri-fit shirt (similar to Debo's blue underarmor and Amber's blue champion shirts) to wear at the beginning of the race. I know this is not recommended but if those shorts fit that should come in the mail tomorrow than I'm going to wear them with the lovely birthday sportsbra. That's what the lube stick is for, right?
well - that's enough rambling for now...can't wait to see what the boys' cheer squad has in store for us!

A Good Smelling Run

I think I smelled RAMPS! I'm not positive what they smell like, but if I had to guess, I think I smelled some! Other than that, I smelled a freshly cut baseball diamond, a blooming lilac bush and burning wood.

There is a football field in Kingwood, WV, but unfortunately no track around it. I decided to just run for 3 - 8 minute segments. This ended up being a loop from the middle school to the hospital and wasn't bad at all.

To top it all off, I had some good-smelling feet when I took my running shoes off at the end of the run!

Definitely a morning person

Well, since I lacked motivating people to get me out of bed in the morning I thought I'd take advantage of having some free nights and enjoying the sunshine. well. there was a lot of traffic. and a lot of runners and walkers and dogs and other random people just getting in my way. Yesterday I did the mile repeats but decided that I would fully use mapmyrun.com and do it in the neighborhood before GOTR. The very slight hill on Amberson obviously got to me by the third lap (much better than doing 12) but still not a bad showing: 6:49, 6:48, 6:58.
Today doing 8 miles did not go as well as I am just too worn out to do much running after work. So I ran through Frick Park which was just lovely but probably ended up doing closer to 7 miles. oh well... excited for our last long run on Saturday!

The Mountains of WV

Absolutely gorgeous run in Kingwood, WV! Set out to do 8 and came up a little short, but I think we covered the whole town! The stars were beautiful, the birds were chirping and it was good to run with Amber again. It was also the first run with the ring. Ah, spring!

April Showers

Lisa and I enjoyed a few spring showers on our 15 mile morning run. Other than that, fairly uneventful. We did try out eating jelly beans while running. Works out pretty well except for opening the package.

Track workout + IM softball + pick up game of football = SPRINGTIME

7 X 800 at target pace of 3:28-3:33 - 3:28, 3:28, 3:34, 3:27, 3:39, 3:41, 3:34. Personally, I felt a little lethargic, don't know if it was the fact that I had done spinning in the morning, the mugginess of the air or that I was just tired. Lisa did great, though!

Get well soon John - VERY SOON

Five days before the official end of the tax season and I wake up at 4:30 to catch the bus for spinning...So after a solo Inflexible Club meeting I go in with Megan and Steve (His 1st time!). Five minutes later Emery shows up late as always but proceeds to walk to the front of the room! I almost walked right out, but instead I should do something since I did get up rather early. Emery proceeds to put the music on softly, like always, after stating "I have no idea what this music is" um yeah. So I just ignored all his commands as he pushed the rest of the class up a big hill - to a fast techno song....oh yeah - my favorite part was watching everyone do jumps off of the beat when the song kept saying "Feel the rhythm". So Amber and Deborah - I'm glad you were busy/not here. And Megan - I hope Steve will come back and try a real class.
Thanks for listening guys - I needed to rant a little to get my day off to a better start....apparently I've been promoted to baby trust returns....I'm totally clueless.

Lisa's Birthday Run

We did a NEW morning run - up Negley to the reservior in Highland Park and then back down Highland. Mapmyrun.com says it is just under 4 miles from the corner back to my house, so by the time you add in the distance b/n it is up over 4 miles.

I also mapped the inner and outer loops of the reservoir - inner is 1 mile and outer is 1.7 miles.

Trial Run of the Jelly Bellys and the Ice Bath

Our peak mileage run before the marathon - 3 weeks to go! We tried out the power jelly bellys and were all huge fans. I also did an ice bath once I got back home. One thing I would recommend is being ready for the shock and being prepared to pass out. As I was easing myself into the bath tub filled w/ cold water and ice I seriously felt my body being like, "what is going on here? We might shut all power down and you will pass out." Then I was having images of Nicole wondering what is taking so long and finding me frozen and drowned in the bathtub. Didn't happen, but it COULD have!

The Competition

Just found out that James Boazzo is running the Country Music Marathon 1/2 marathon in training for a marathon he is running in Alaska in June. I promptly called Ryan to tell him that he would have to beat him.

AAARRRGGGHHH

Just got several emails saying that my shorts are on back order 5-7 and then 10-14 days!!!! How am I supposed to test wear them if they come seconds before we leave for the marathon!?!?!?!? And I got all that cool energy stuff too! Well Megan - I'm glad you got the jelly beans for us...

6 x 1200 target of 5:15

5:00, 5:03, 5:04, 5:05, 5:09, 5:13

Join our Inflexible Club!

For those who can't touch their toes our inflexible club offers many benefits - mainly appearing to stretch while actually catching extra zzz's before our 6 am spinning routine. Its magnificent - consider a membership today!

A Reverse Wilkins!

Yeah for an alteration on our typical 5 mile route into Oakland!

Police report filed

15 mile run via Shady Avenue and the Southside to downtown and back via the Strip and Liberty. I ended up adding on a little at the end too - I went up Fifth and wound around through the school and through the old hole in the fence; haven't done that in awhile.

So the first time I called 911 to file the police report no one answered - made me feel very safe. Second time I called I talked to someone and they sent a police officer to see me...in the office; yeah, I wonder what gossip that started. Anyhow, she was really nice and I am actually glad we filed it quickly because they said they have a lot of officers on duty in the Strip and will try to find him based on my description. If so, I could be called in to ID him.

12 x 400 Target 1:35

1:33, 1:33, 1:35, 1:36, 1:34, 1:35, 1:35, 1:37, 1:35, 1;37, 1:35, 1:34