Thank God for rainy days!

I realized today just how much I love rainy days and since we've been in NC, I can probably count on one hand, how many we've had. I'd like to say that I love rainy days because we're in the middle of a drought and really need it and although that is true, the reason I'm grateful for them is because it gives me permission to be lazy. It's a great day to laze around and read a book or take a nap. (or write in my blog) On nice days, I feel that I'm wasting them if I'm not outside "doing something", no matter how menial it may be. And to be honest, there's just too many nice days here to be productive on all of them. So, the rain, allows me to just veg without feeling guilty! So what am I doing on this lazy day? So far, I've gone to the gym, ran an interval workout on the treadmill of an hour and then took a spinning class of which I got there early and added an extra 30 minutes of spinning before class started. Another interval workout on the bike and it was TOUGH but fun. I think the good warm-up on the treadmill actually made it feel easier although I really worked hard and gave it 110%. I really enjoy spinning and I think it may help with my running. It certainly can't hurt!
I also have to give Frank a "practice" massage today and then I plan on going back to the club tonight for another spinning class. Not to overdo it but I really enjoy the instructor that teaches tonight and I think it will help with my endurance and stamina.
Frank has class tonight so once I get back from the club, I'll have a couple of hours to unwind and get ready for the debate tonight. I'm really looking forward to that as it should be very interesting. I almost feel sorry for Hillary as she doesn't seem to know what to do. She's tried being nice, being mean and being funny but nothing seems to work. I wonder if she now has some indication of how George Bush must have felt when the media was so negative on him . She can't do anything right and Obama can't do anything wrong! I don't think I realized the power of the media until this current election. If they're not behind you, it's really tough! Oh well, she deserves it although I'm not so sure that Obama does but hopefully McCain will be able to turn that around! I'm becoming a really political junky. Thank God for DVR so I can record Idol. (as well as the rain)
Off I go! I'm running out of veg time! Out!

Getting Stronger

After a very sleepless night with lots of coughing I did manage to get a run in today. I never expected to do that but I decided to go to the club and see how I felt. I ended up running 8 1/2 miles on the treadmill. It was a nice easy pace and I felt really good so I think I'm getting over the cold much quicker that I thought! Yay! Now I have to figure out how to get my training back on track without overdoing it. That's a tough one for me but hopefully I'll figure it out. Tomorrow I plan to run at the club again and then take a spinning class to supplement my running without running. After that I have to practice my massage techniques at the salon so it'll be a full enough day. I hope to get to lift weights as well but.......maybe that's overdoing it?
Well, it's off to bed to try to catch up on the sleep I lost last night and to get this machine back on track for completing my first (and last) 100 mile run!!!!!!

41 Days and counting!

Wow! It's only 41 until Umstead! I'm losing a battle with a cold that seems to have settled in my chest forcing me to take a few more days off. It's a little unsettling but I'm trying to keep everything in perspective and not worry too much. My only goal at Umstead is to finish and I should be able to do that if I can just keep the mental thing going. I'm going to try to do more cross-training and get stronger that way. It seems that maybe too much running and not enough of anything else is not the way for me to go. I really enjoy working out at the club and hope that will get me through. I've been getting much more consistent with the weight training as well as spinning and I think that will be good for me. It's really fun and a nice break. I really need to keep this whole running thing fun. When it stops being fun, it's time to look to something else so hopefully by breaking it up with cross-training, I'll keep it fresh.
I've been really watching what I eat since I got back from Rocky and have lost about 5 pounds so I'm very optimistic about that. I guess it is true that calories do matter. In order to lose weight you really do have to count every bite, or at least I do. I decided to use the Weight Watcher website, as it seems the simplest and I just keep track of points. I know what foods to eat so I'm eating well but am very conscious of the quantity and believe me, in order to see results, the quantity really makes a difference. I look at everything now as "how many points" and am able to control my portions and make more careful decisions. I've eliminated most of the snacks in the house as I'd gotten hooked on the 100 calorie stuff and even though they're only 100 calories, they weren't the best choice and count as 2 points! Not worth that! I'm hopefully that by Umstead, I'll be down another 10 pounds and I think that will really help me mentally as well as psychically. It's a pain to not be able to eat whatever I want but I want to be at goal more than I want that "stuff"!
Off I go to get on with my day! I'm feeling a little better and hope to get out this afternoon. Hopefully I'll be able to run tomorrow, if not outside, at least at the club for a few on the treadmill. Out!

Back to the drawing board

It's been a couple of days now since my attempt at running another Horton race. It was a 34+ mile run instead of 31 and I think it really psyched me out. In any event, once I did the math for a 17 mile loop in 3:30 I decided I couldn't do it and pretty much bagged it from the get go. It was a mental tug of war and not much fun. It's like the devil on one shoulder saying you can't do it and an angel on the other saying, you can do it, just try! Anyway, the devil won out and I gave up! I even reached a point where I decided I didn't even want to make the cut-off but wanted to just stop halfway. There wasn't much to worry about as I missed the cut-off by about 15 minutes! That's an eternity. It was very demorilizing as I thought I was in better shape after putting in so many miles but I guess there were too many junk miles thrown in that really didn't count. Needless to say, I was pretty discouraged and it really hit my on Sunday morning once it had sunk it. What do I have to do to be more consistant? After a few hours of feeling sorry for myself and just bagging the whole running thing, I realized that I just need to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back to work. I am planning on taking a break from running for a few days and will concentrate on resitance training and spinning and maybe even do a little yoga. I meet with my gyno tomorrow to discuss the results of my test from last week and go for an ultra-sound. It will be a big load off my mind once I know what we're dealing with. The unknown is always such a scary thing. I'm sure all is fine but will sleep better once I know for sure.
I just got home from a spinning class that I took after doing a resistance routine. The spinning was great and had lots of intervals in it so it was a good workout. I realized during the class that I really need to do this type of training. I think that along with some intervals on the treadmill will really help my stamina. I may even run a few miles on the treadmill in the morning just to get in a nice even paced run.
Anyway, I'm going back to the drawing board and hopefully something will click.

Another 50K

We're getting ready to leave for VA for a 50K. It kind of seems short after doing the 50 Miler a couple of weeks ago, after all it is only 31 miles although it's actually 34 miles from what we understand as it's a Horton race. I'll be wearing my GPS so will be able to confirm or deny that rumor! We've pretty much been running an ultra a month since September with the exception of November which is a little unusual for us. We should be ready for the 100 miler in April. There is no way I'm not going to finish the 100 this year and then I think I'll be done with 100s! We really enjoy the 50K and 50 mile distance with an occasional 24 hour run so I think we'll stick to those in the future.
I talked with Tate last night. They had just returned from Florida after going down to escape the frigid temps for a couple of days. Sounds like they had a great time and Ada loved the ocean. Can't wait to see the pics. They've visiting us over Easter so hopefully Colleen and Erins and their SOs will be able to come for Easter dinner. That would be so terrific. Now that we're in NC it's actually a possibility that we never had before.
Well, I'd best get ready. I'm really looking forward to getting the VA and seeing Jean and Herm. They're coming from NJ for the race as they do almost every year so it will be really fun to catch up with them. (and it will be "catching" up with them as I'm sure they'll be done the run way before me!)
Have a great day!

Good News! Bad News!

Boy this getting old is really getting old! I went to the eye doctor today and the good news is is that my vision has immproved for distance and I no longer need correction. (previously I had a minor corrective lens) All I need it to wear readers for reading! so that was the good news! The bad news is is that I have Dry Eye which is chronic and I will have to use drops 4 times everyday forever. In the scope of things, it's not really a bad thing but it does bring up the fact that things do start to breakdown as we age. Getting old is definately not for wimps! At least now I know why my eyes have been causing so much discomfort and it's treatable.
Tonight I have to go to the spa to give one of the massage therpists a massage. Olge is going to show me how to end the massage with the client sitting. I'm not all that keen on it but if that's how she wants me to do it, I guess I'll just do it!
I ran this morning at the club and must say I felt pretty good. I almost didn't go cause I didn't feel all that great (that time of the month) but decided to go and just walk if that's all I could do. I ran for 5 miles and it flew by and I was able to run under an 11:00 minute pace. Not very fast, granted, but it was faster than I was planning on doing as I just wanted to run a couple of miles before the 50K this weekend. I plan on running about 3 tomorrow so I'll end up with 50 for the week. I'm trying to keep my weekly distance at least at 50 miles.
gotta run!

A Blah Day!

Ever had a day when you just want to sleep until it's tomorrow? Well, I had a day like that today. I just felt like I couldn't move out of my own way. I decided to go shopping instead of running. Sounded like a good idea but it didn't help. My eyes burned and hurt just to keep them open. I came home and tried to nap hoping that my eyes would feel better but they still just burn and hurt. I have an appointment tomorrow to see an eye doctor so hopefully a new prescription will help. Everything just seemed like an effort today but hopefully it'll be better tomorrow. I plan on running at the club since it's supposed to be raining here. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to go to the salon where I'm going to start work to give one of the massage therapist a massage for more feedback as well as to learn a finishing technique that Olga wants me to learn. I hope it all works out. It's going to be strange working for someone.

Holiday Lake 50K is this weekend and I'm really looking forward to seeing Jean and Herm. That'll be fun. I hope I can meet the cut-offs and shouldn't have any problem although it might be if I don't get my act together by then. I'm sure I'll be fine by the weekend. I just need to get a couple of good night's sleep. Last night was a rough night. The 50K will probably seem short after the 50 miler last week!

Well, that's all for now. There hasn't been a lot going here so not much to write about.

Back from Texas

We got back from Texas last night and are still recovering from our efforts. We ran the 50 miler on Saturday, I in 11:50 and Frank in 9:42 (1st in his age) I felt great from the beginning and probably started a little fast for me although I felt great and would probably do the same thing if I did it again. I ran the first 16+ miles at 3:28, the second about 3:45 and the last one was about 4:30. About 3 miles of the last loop was in the dark so it was quite a bit slower but I actually walked quite a bit of it thinking I was going to have to walk the whole thing. Eventually I was able to "run" but I was pretty much done and just got through it. I decided that I didn't have enough to go back out for another loop as I had thought I might. Oh well, it's amazing that you can do whatever it is that you have to do!
We stayed in Houston on the first night and hooked up with Mary so that was fun. We drove to Huntsville on Friday and checked in to the Day's Inn there. We ended up getting a room for Saturday night after we finished our run. I had thought I'd be able to forego the room and stay up all night but that was not to be. We weren't really prepared to spend the night, not having even a comfortable chair to sit on or a place to lay down. We should have brought a tent??? Anyway, we left, slept for a few hours and then went back to watch Mary and Marie Lewis finish, eat breakfast and then ended back to Houston! Whew!
We watched the Super Bowl although Mary and I ended up falling asleep and missed much of it.
I'm not sure that I have to constitution to run a 100 mile run but I'm committed to run Umstead and will give it my best effort to get the job done. There will be LOTS of walking. I'm not sure that I'll want to train or run another 100 miler but never say never, right? I'm just happy to be done the 50 in under 12 hours and now we're ready to get back to training for Umstead and see where we go from there! I'm starting to look at other races throughout the rest of the year so we'll be sure to have something to keep us out there getting dirty on the trails! Lots of fun!