LIKE A PUZZLE

Since the weather here has been cold and colder I have been passing my time working a 1000 piece puzzle. I take every free moment to try and get another piece in place so I can complete it.

Training for a race is like working a puzzle. You have to keep at it if you want a good finish. Sometimes things don't go as planned but you just have to keep fitting the pieces together. The pieces being speedwork, tempo run, weights and long run.

I had speedwork this week and decided to do it on the treadmill after I trained with Katie. "no legs today" I told her. " I have 8 miles to do on the treadmill"
I actually found this an easy way to do the run. I was scheduled to do 4x1600 @12:15 w/800 jogs. This was to be the longest I had ever run on a treadmill but I was determined to finish. And I did !!! I just goofed up a tad because I couldn't remember if I was really suppose to do 8 or was it 7 ? So I stopped at 7.25 miles.

BRRR !!!

This is our second day of cold weather with freezing rain. The schools are closed along with just about everything else. We don't function to well in the South when the weather gets bad.

Yesterday I did manage to get up to the gym in the morning before everything got bad. I had a training session with Katie so that was the only reason why I was going out. Surprise ! When I got there she was nowhere to be found. I guess the weather kept her home. Now I had to figure out what to do. I headed to the treadmills since I had an easy 3 mile run on my schedule. As I started to warm up my knee was acting up and since I didn't want to injure it I decided to try the elliptical instead. This worked well and I did 3 miles. Is it the same as on a treadmill ? I don't know, but I'm counting it. After all that I did some weights for chest, shoulders and biceps and the made my way home where I could stay inside and be warm.

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BIRTHDAY !!!

Today is my birthday and my husband and I drove in to Dallas so I could get a cup cake from Sprinkles for my birthday. It didn't matter that it was spitting rain and there were winter storm warnings being posted on the radio. I was on a mission. So many choices, it was hard to decide but I finally picked. A chocolate marshmallow, a black and white, a cinnamon sugar, carrot cake, mocha chocolate and finally a coconut. SIX ! Six yummy little cakes to carry home in a plain brown box. I carefully held the box on my lap as we headed home. I didn't want anything to happen to them. And now the box is safely on my kitchen counter waiting to be opened tonight.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I worked at Foot Solutons. I did get my training in and 2 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday.

Thursday I had a tempo run of 5 miles with a warm up and cool down of a mile each. I was over dressed and did the route with hills so missed my pace on some of the miles. I also trained at the gym before I ran.

Friday was to be an easy run of 2 miles. I ended up with 2.63. Ran to Kids Kastle and back home.

Sunday long run, got it done. I had 9 miles on the schedule. The morning was cool but sunny so this time I managed to dress appropriately. I was making this a very easy run because my left knee had been hurting all day yesterday. I kept putting Oxy Flec on it and taking ibuprofen. This morning it was better but didn't want to push things. I finished with 9.32 miles on the Garmin.

Total miles for the week 20.95

TAGGED

The other day I was tagged. I had to think about some of the questions especially the one about favorite movie. I couldn't remember any I had seen. So below are the questions and answers.

1. My favorite memory of 2008 had to be running the Disney half marathon with my 4 daughters for my 65 birthday. And even better was that we all finished. And running the Georgia Ing with Katy. She made a great movie of our race. Actually anytime I get to run with my daughters is great.

2. My favorite movie of 2008 was The Bucket List. We took my husband to see this on his birthday last January. My how time flies !

3. My favorite food has to be anything with chocolate in it. I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

4. My favorite place in 2008 was Taku Glacier Lodge in Juneau, Alaska. You have to fly in by float plane. Not only did we have a wonderful salmon dinner, we also saw a mother bear and her cubs cleaning off what we had left on the grill and the highlight was meeting Alton Brown from Food Network.

5. What I am looking forward to in 2009 is to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon with Jenny and Amy on March 8 and then doing the Georgia ING Half Marathon the end of March with Katy. I can't believe I am so lucky to have girls who still want to run with their mom. Thanks you guys.

I'm not going to tag anyone because I know a lot of people don't like to do these things. If you read this and want to you can volunteer to tag yourself.

GIVE A CHEER

Hey Noah give a cheer. Your dad placed first in his age group for the 1/2 marathon with a time of 1:29 and your mom placed second in her age group for the 5 mile race she ran today.
When there are people in your family out running you can't skip a run. I had an 8 mile at a pace of 14:42 to do today. I think the hardest part about these long runs is getting out of the house but I finally managed to pull it together and get out the door around 10:30 this morning. I figured I would just take the same route I did last week and see if I had improved.
Here are my miles:
14:24
13:44
13:56
13:20
14:42
15:04
16:07 I had a long hill up and was running into the wind
13:18

I actually finished with 8.51 miles for the day.

Total for week 19.51 miles

TEMPO RUN

Today I had a tempo run with a distance of 6 miles including warm up and cool down. I was to do 4 miles @ 13:14 pace. I decided I would start from home, run up to Kids Kastle and get the 4 miles in and then head back home.
My times were:
Warm up 15:24
mile 1 12:58
mile 2 12:17
mile 3 13:04
mile 4 12:58
Cool down 13:15

I guess I'm not the slowest turtle in the pond.

Yesterday I trained. We worked on legs and then I did 3 miles on the treadmill.

CHEERS

Cheers to Kathryn and Jenny who ran the Disney Marathon Sunday. Kathryn also ran the half on Saturday. What a great race they ran and a PR for both.
All their hard training and dedication paid off.

And so with that in mind I knew this was my long run day. I had 8 miles on the schedule. My first thought was where would I run ? I decided to do a course that takes me out of the neighborhood and some distance from home but that it would be a lot flatter. I felt good during the whole run and ran most of the way. I had to wait to cross streets but still finished in under 2 hours.

AROUND AND AROUND

Yesterday I headed up to do my tempo run. I was going to use the track at the middle school but a sign was posted that it was only for school use from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. My next option was to use the walk that circled in front of Kids Kastle. It was a little over a 1/4 of a mile.

I put my water bottle on a bench and then started running. The temperature was a perfect 53. Around and around I went, checking my Garmin to make sure I was doing the right pace. About the time I was on my third mile I noticed a large group of kids walking on the paths. They must have been a class from the middle school. They were nearing the bench that had my water bottle on it and I knew what was going to happen. DAMN! One of them kicked it off the bench and and as I yelled "HEY, THAT'S MY WATER BOTTLE" they kicked it in to a large puddle. By now I was close to them and heard a mumbled apology. I replied with " at least you could pick it up" And a nice kid retrieved it from the water and handed it to me.

I finished my run with a total of 7 miles for the day.

This morning I am going to the gym to train and then I have an easy run of 2 miles.

GYM WORKOUT

Okay, the holidays are over and it's the new year and time to get back on track. It was back to the gym and a training session with Katie. I missed last week because I was sick but there was no getting out of it today. I lucked out, it was chest and triceps and for some reason these don't seem so bad. It actually felt good to be lifting weights.

After weight training I had a 2 mile easy run on my schedule so I headed upstairs to the treadmill. I put in a pace of 14:17 and ran for 1 mile than did a

14:38 pace for 1.50 miles and then a cool down of .50 miles. It wasn't so bad. I think I am getting over my dread of using the treadmill.

miles today 3

WINTER IS BACK

Brr, today I woke up to freezing rain and very cold temperatures with no promise of the day improving. On my way to have coffee with my friend I noticed that even the stop signs were coated in ice. I was glad I didn't have to run.

Yesterday my schedule said I was to do an easy run with a distance of 4 miles @ 14:42 pace. Since it was cold outside I opted for the gym. I really hate the treadmills but Jenny said " you just need to suck it up and do it". I found a treadmill off to the side and away from most the crowd.

I warmed up for .25 and then pushed up the speed. I couldn't remember what pace I was to do so went for the 14:17 and ran for 2 miles. Time for a potty break and some water and then back on the treadmill. Maybe I was suppose to do a 14:38 pace so I ran mile 3 at that. Mile 4, I ran half at 14:38 and then walked the rest. My legs were starting to feel like jello. I finished with .25 cool down.

Total miles for week 9.25

SAND CASTLES

This morning the weather was like the day we went to the beach in Florida, but I didn't have time to be building sand castles. It had been a week since my last run and I was recovering from being sick the first part of the week. I knew I had to take advantage of the nice weather and try to get some miles in. Believe me it was hard to get motivated but I grabbed my



Garmin and headed out the door with a plan to run my usual route. My schedule said I was to do 4 easy miles.

I was doing good until mile 3 when there were more hills then I had planned on. I decided to walk the hills so as not to tire me so much. Mile 4 seemed better and then near the end I walked until I reached home. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I ran/walked 4.75 for the day.