BROKEN EGGS

After some very heavy rain storms this morning the sky cleared and the sun came out. There was a slight breeze and it seemed like the perfect day to run outside. I had 5 miles on the schedule but ended with 6.22 on the Garmin. It just was so nice out that I wanted to keep going.
On my run I spotted two bird eggs, I hope they had not been eaten by a critter but hatched.

Miles for week 9.22

AFTER THE WORKOUT

Tuesday is training day and Katie had me doing chest and triceps along with some push ups, sit ups and squats thrown in between the reps. After all that I went up to the treadmills as I had a 2 mile run at an easy pace to do. Now, Katy ( my daughter) and I have always said it's a waste of clothes and time to only do 2 miles so I was going to do 3. By the time I finished and got home I was hot and sweaty and my legs were tired. So what's a girl to do ? Go get a pedicure.

GET MOOVING !

Jenny called this morning. Her family had done a 5K and she had come in first in the women's with a PR of 23:10. Way to go. Then she asked me if I had gone out yet. The answer was no, not yet. It was looking like rain here and I was trying to decide if I should go to the gym or go outside or not go at all. She won't let you skip. To cinch the deal she even shamed me by reminding me that my grandsons had run this morning and if they could do it I could. OKAY, I'll go.

I convinced Christy that she should come to the gym with me. I had 6 miles on the schedule.I got on the treadmill and it had been so long I drew a blank on using it. Took me a second to get started. I finished with 6.25 miles. I did not run all of it but at least I got mooving!
Miles for week 13.85

C + E=

Yes it was another Friday at the gym. Core was on the schedule and Katie managed to see that I got a good work out. No new exercise but hard enough to know I was working those abs. After 30 minutes of floor work I went upstairs and did the Elliptical for 30 minutes instead of quickly heading out of the gym.

THEY'RE BACK

One of the nice things about running outside is that you get to see a lot of things. Many times on my runs I have seen my favorite, the road runner, Today was a real surprise when a blue bird flew across the trail. It's nice to see they are back!
Today was speedwork. I was to do a total of 5 miles with 3x800@6:33. I thought it would be easier to keep track by going up to Kids Kastle where there are less hills. I had a stickum note with the distance on it and then I would write in the times. This was stuck on the outside of my car front window. I returned from my final mile and the paper was gone. I guess I didn't realize the wind was so strong today. I looked all over but couldn't spot the bright yellow stickum note.

I do know that my times for the 800's were under the 6:33.

Miles today 5

Miles for week 7.60

TOOK MY LEGS FOR A WORKOUT !

Yikes ! I had to train to day. I wasn't thinking it would be legs but it was. My gosh Katie knows how to work them. Not only did I train for 30 minutes I also had to get a run in today. I'm following a schedule from smart coach for a 5K training program.
I started out on my run and my legs felt so heavy. At one point I thought I can't do this but I continued on. Finished with a total of 2.6 miles. I'm glad I didn't give up and go home at the start. I think all you runners keep me inspired to continue on.
One person who is a great inspiration to everyone is Mark. He just ran the Boston and had a PR of 3:17. Way to go!!! He has trained so hard for this and it paid off.

FINALLY!!!

After not running since the ING ( that's 3 weeks) I finally got my shoes on and did 4 miles today. I can tell that I had time off, a little slower but at least I did it ! It was a gorgeous day to be out. The sun was shinning and there was a good wind blowing and I was out there. I ran past Kids Kastle until I hit 2 miles on my Garmin and then turned and headed for home.
Mark is running the Boston Marathon tomorrow and I wish all the best. He has trained really hard and I hope he has a great time not only running the race but also on the clock.

WEEK IN REVIEW

I went to the gym on Tuesday morning for a training session. We worked on back and biceps. I had to hurry home because we were leaving for San Antonio to attend the tea party at the Alamo. I have my tea bag pinned on and I'm ready to go.

This was the official shirt for the protest.

The street was starting to fill up and people were out with their signs.

Our group was excited about the day.

We saw lots of shirts with different sayings and logos.

We tried to get near the Alamo but it was too crowded.

More signs that I liked.

More shirts that I liked.

The crowd was getting bigger.

This little girl was with her parents to protest.

Crowd is still getting bigger. The paper gave and estimate that there were around 10-15 thousand attending.

We arrived home Thursday and I had a 9 am training at the gym this morning.
It was chest, triceps and abs. After my workout I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm trying to get my groove back!

HAPPY EASTER

May all your bunnies be chocolate !

LAZY

This is where I'd like to be, in a hammock on a beach in warm weather. Ever since I have been home the weather has either been very windy or cold or cold and windy. I haven't gotten in a run yet. I have worked out. Last Friday and today I had training sessions. Fridays was legs, there's another reason not to run and today was core.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and I will be able to get outside and run.
As Jenny would say " just suck it up and do it"

CHEETOS STOP

One of the great things about the ING is that the neighborhoods all compete to have the best stops. Some have beer, some have doughnuts, some sing or have bands. We thought this was the best one, the CHEETOS ! Katy and Tonya were all excited, since I don't care for Cheetos they told me to keep running and they would catch up.

ING REPORT

I looked forward to running the Atlanta ING race this year with Katy and Tonya. It seemed like the same weather as last year, cold and windy but this time no rain. On Saturday we had gone to the Expo to pick up our race packets and get our shirts. The shirts have the neighborhoods we run through on them.

We bought orange laces, with the money going to a children's charity and put our chips on our shoes.

Race morning and we are ready to go. It's the best my hair will look all day. This year we got sherbet orange jackets to wear so we'd look like a team.

Time to line up and we were having trouble getting to our corral. We ended up starting in corral five instead of six.

So far we are doing great ! I love to take a picture of downtown Atlanta from this spot.

All morning Tonya and Katy had been talking about the doughnut stop. You can't pass up a Krispy Kreme.

This was another tough hill. We are almost to mile 10 where our family is waiting to cheer us on.

It's nice to see a friendly face when you are running a race. I was getting tired and it perked me up. We still had 5 miles to go. My knee started to hurt around mile 11 and I had to start to walk more. I wanted to be able to run in at the finish.

We did it in 3:02:57. That is a great improvement from last year.

We were handed our medal and the warming blanket. Next was the stop for some food.

I want to give a big thank you to Tonya and Katy for sticking with me and making it a great race experience. We ROCKED !!!