Headed To Amish Country

Today Christy and I were up and out the door by 6:30. We had an 8 mile mostly walk to do today. With my Garmin strapped on and my water belt around my hips we started off. My goal was for us to make it through the Disney check points. Hooray! WE did it!

We did 8.29 miles in 2:15:13 with an average pace of16.53 and a best pace of 10:17.

Now I am trying to pack for our trip to Ohio. I hope the weather is cooler up there. You all work hard while I am gone, I don't think I will be able to blog, so you will not hear from me for a week.

Total miles for the week 19.64

Hello Saturday

I had a ten am. training session with Zu this morning. I had my choice between doing chest and triceps or back and biceps. I didn't care which so let him pick. We did biceps and back.

Today is a no run day, but tomorrow is the big run then we are off to Ohio.

No Stops

Stepped out to a bit cooler morning, so decided to run again today. This time my goal was to run the whole trail without stopping. Off I went and it didn't seem too bad, maybe because it was a little cooler. By the time I made it to the top of the big hill I wanted to pause but kept going. All in all it was a good run.

42:30 time for 3 miles at 14:22 pace. Best pace 8:21

IS IT FALL YET ?

What can I say it's Thursday and I had my training with Shayla. We worked on shoulders and did some stretching.

I decided to reverse my run so started on the trail that goes behind the grade school. This was fine , lots of shade but then I had to run in the sun the last part. Hopefully we'll get a break in the weather soon, isn't Sunday the first day of Fall?

I ran 43:41 minutes for a total of 3 miles at a 14.21 pace. Best pace 7:41

Total miles for week 8.38

Today was a running day. I have signed up for a 5K in the neighborhood on Oct 27. The Harry's Hustle is part of the Hogwarts Festival. There was a map of the course so today I tried it out. It is pretty much what I have been doing so no surprises. Lots of hills.

I did 2.88 miles in 41:14 minutes with my best pace of 9:02

BE PREPARED

This morning I headed for the gym to do my training with Shayla. I got there early enough to do some stretching and warm up. As I waited at the trainers desk I noticed that I didn't see Shayla anywhere. I saw the girl from the front desk coming over and then she told me that Shayla had gone home sick yesterday.

What to do, I stood there thinking and my first choice was to ask another trainer if she was available. She wasn't. My second choice was to just leave, but hey, I'm here and I know what to do so just do it. I guess like the Girl Scouts you should always be prepared for another plan in case your first one doesn't work out. I did 30 minutes of leg exercises and left feeling good that I had completed a weight session.

A DROWNED RAT

There is a lot to be said about humidity. I t can make you feel like a drowned rat. And today it did. I was hoping for a better time today on my run but the humidity got the best of me. My time was 36.57 for 2.50 miles at a pace of 16.43 with a best pace of 9.23.

I even went on the old trail to try and keep in the shade, but even that didn't help much. I guess I am going to have to get up earlier if I want to have cooler temps. The good thing about all this sweating is when I got home and weighed myself I was down a pound!

I hope we all have a good week.

The wine curse

Last night was gourmet and I had one glass of white wine and one glass of red. That was enough to make me suffer in my run today. I went out with Christy and we did 4.99 by the garmin in 1:28.03 with a pace of 19.19. I did time us for the first check at Disney and we made it with 12 minutes to spare.

The farther out we went the hotter it got and the slower we got. I know wine can slow you down. Believe me I was really starting to fade. At one point I had turned off the Garmin and forgot to turn it back on, so I think we actually did a 1/4 of a mile more.

To Yoga or not?

I was going to try the yoga class today, because I read that it is helpful for runners. I sure could use some stretching. When I got there the ladies were going in , some with their own mats. "Maybe I'm not ready for this class I thought" So instead I decided to get a cardio workout by doing the elliptical machine.I did 30 minutes for about 2 miles. I know its not the same as walking but it counts for moving. After that I went down stairs and did a hundred sit ups. I was near the yoga room, so of course I peeked in and guess what! Some of the ladies weren't even doing anything. Next time I'll do yoga.

Humberto brings humidity

In case you haven't heard, a hurricane hit the coast of Texas near Galvastin early this morning. Now we didn't get rain but the humidity is certainly high today. I was going to do a thirty minute run but managed only 27:16. I ran 1.95 miles with a pace of 14:20 and my best pace of 9:33. I Was going to go farther but when I got to 2499 and turned to look back the sky was very dark and I didn't want to get caught in a storm.

Before my run I trained at the gym with Shayla. We worked on the chest today.

EWE CAN DO IT!

Today was a nonrun day. I decided to go up to the pool and do some laps. I didn't have a number in mind. At twenty laps I thought of stopping but then all I needed was 17 more and I'd have a 1/2 mile done. Back and forth I went, back stroke, crawl, side stroke and sometimes I just ran. We do whatever we have to to get the job done. And when it is done there is a good feeling. Aah, today I moved. We are all working toward the same goal, the finish line at Disney and I know we will all make it.

Seems like Fall

The weather man said a cool front was coming and boy was he right. Perfect weather to run in, but first I had my training secession at the gym with Shalya. Today we worked on triceps and biceps. Whew, I didn't know those wee little muscles could make you sweat so! After a quick stop at home to get my watch and ipod I headed up to Kids Kastle to start my run. The temperature was around 67 degrees. I finished in 37.54 minutes, 2.59 miles with a pace of 13.43. I really felt like I was running more than walking thanks to the cool weather.

Yesterday I did an hour on the bike at the gym. I went about 87 rpms and did 11.75 miles.

The grass is always greener...

Since the humidity has been so bad I thought I would go up to the gym to do my long run. After all, I would have air and toilets. I started on the tread mill and then must have hit the stop button, because everything stopped. Okay, I restarted it and was doing fine, walking at 4 mph and running at 5 mph and then I started to slow it down and again it stopped and everything was wiped out. I stepped over to a new tread mill and was doing fine. This one seemed to be working. Around the 2 mile mark my stomach started to cramp and it felt like I might need the bathroom so I decided just to stop. I'm guessing I did around for miles. I'll have to make it up this week.

On a better note I came home and made a beautiful rustic peach tart for dinner.

Race Day

Christy and I did the 5K at Farmers Branch today. It was a beautiful park and Lots of paths with big, huge trees so I thought I didn't need my hat, wrong. We didn't race on the paths, we were on roads with few trees and lots of sun. The humidity was bad, I was dripping sweat and because I had no hat it was going in my eyes, not fun. The next thing to go wrong was my bra strap came undone.

Now try fixing that while the sweat is going in your eyes and you are trying to run. I continued on with running and walking and to my surprise I came in third in my age group of 60-64. Not bad for an old lady!

The gazelle and the lion

There is no work out today, I am resting for my 5K tomorrow.However I don't want to leave you with nothing so following is a quote I found and which I like from Maurice Greene(attributed to Roger Bannister shortly after running the first sub-4mile)

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and knows it must mover faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't mater if you are
the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving."

Look Out Mickey

I didn't ride the bike yesterday. My leg was sore so I decided to swim instead. Jenny told me that 37 laps were a 1/2 mile so I thought I'd give it a try. What looks easy is not, but I kept plugging away and finished in a little over thirty minutes. They say the more you do the better you'll get so maybe I will try again next week.

Today I met with my trainer,Shayla, for some weight training. We worked on shoulders and she had me doing the plank for 1 minute, also sit ups. I am .signed up to work with her twice a week through December .

After training I did my run walk. My time was 42:34, 2.86 miles and pace of 15.48. I concentrated on running up the hills to strengthen my legs and help get me a faster pace. I was slower today because of the humidity and I did more walking . But I am ready to take Mickey on! YEAH TEAM CRAWSHAW !

Running in the rain

Yesterday was to be a thirty minute run/walk but first I had to go to the gym for a training session with another new trainer. We did 30 minutes of leg exercises.
From the gym I headed home to get my GPS watch and do my run. I dropped Allie at school and parked by Kids Kastle. Then I saw it, rain drops on the window. Now six months ago I would have said "Okay, I can't run its raining out" and I would Have headed back home to have some coffee and watch the morning shows. As I sat there and thought about it I decided what the hell, I'm here and I won't melt. Thirty minutes later I was back at my car, my run over.

Today I am going to the gym to cross train on the bike.

It's a Great Feeling

Up early and out the door by 6:45. This was the day for the big run, seven miles. We miscalulated and it was more like six. Run,walk,run,walk and so on. Jenny was out in front because she had 8 miles to do . I decided to try running up all the hills to give my legs an extra workout. Not bad, some I didn't make it to the top. We ran to LA Fitness and back in about an hour and a half. Best part is seeing the home stretch and some cold water.

The Coach is in town

The whistle blew at 6am and we (Jenny, Christy and yours truly) were out the door at 6:15 for a 30 minute run/walk. With alot of encouragement from Jenny we did better than expected. Thanks Jenny for giving us the push we needed.