THIS WAY THAT WAY

Sunday, that means it's time for Jillian's cards. The magic number today was workout 4. It started with Lat pull-downs, wide grip and underhand-grip, I can do those. Jumping lunges I couldn't do because my hamstring was sore. Christy did do those. Then we got to circuit 2 and that's where the disagreement started. We each had a different idea on how she wanted the Terry Pulls done.
I think we ended up each doing it the way we thought and neither one was right.
I do like these cards , but think some of her explanations are lacking.

MRS. TURTLE

I was awake this morning at 5 but it took me awhile to get moving. I read, I made delicious waffles with fresh berries on them and then when I finally talked with Jenny and she asked if I had run and my answer was no. She said " why not?" After hanging up I dressed and went for my run.

I followed the program 5 min run and 5 min walk but today I was slower. When I finished and checked my Garmin I had fewer miles then the last two runs but the time was the same.

Total miles for week 9.21

BUCKEYES

This morning reminded me of Fall in Ohio, the air was cool and walking to school you would be on the lookout for buckeyes. A real treasure, you would put holes in an a string through to make a lovely necklace. Back then I didn't know that diamonds were a girls best friend.

It was the second day for my new program and a perfect 55 degrees with the sun out. I started out at a different spot so I could change where I would hit some of the up hills. It seemed like my recovery was easier than before and at the finish I wasn't as tired, but that could have been because it was cooler.

NOT A BOOK BLOG

I was at the library today browsing the shelves when I came across some books on running. One in particular stood out, it was stuck between two taller books, The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration by Kevin Nelson. It is a year of motivation, revelation and instruction. A page to read every day for a year with a quote at the top. As I was flipping through I came across the daily read for June 7th with the quote by Hal Higdon a runner and writer, " You didn't beat me. You merely finished in front of me." This is a better way to look at my last two race results.

MR. BLUEBIRD

Perfect weather for a run, the temp was around 65 and the sun was behind the clouds. Today I was going to tryout a new program from Women's Running magazine. Since I'm not new to running I started at week 3 which had me do a 5 min walk and then a 5 min run , repeat for 3 times but I added an extra repeat. This seemed to work out well for me. I even ran up some of the hills that I normally have been walking up.
The best part of the run was when I first started out, I spotted a bluebird .Haven't seen one all summer.

Sunday I went to the gym with Christy. It was time for Jillian and those darn cards I bought. I was having a real struggle with some of the sets. Somehow we managed to finish and decide to skip the cardio because we were too tired and my legs were sore.

RUNNING FOR TOMATOES

I didn't realize I would be able to get some nice home grown tomatoes after my race today. That's the best prize of all !

This is a race I had been wanting to do. It's for the Scottish Rite Children's hospital and is right in my town so I don't have to drive far. I was thinking it would be a flat course but that didn't happen. There were at least 4 hills and some were long inclines. The weather started out overcast and in the 70's. Christy and I started together and then I was ahead for awhile. She caught up to me sometime after mile two and we ran together until she pulled ahead at the end. I finished with a time of 41:??, much better than last weeks race time.

After the race and before the awards they were giving out a lot of door prizes. Do you think we could have won something, not a chance.

Christy waits patiently while they call out the awards. I guess that's the bad part about going to a race with me, you have to wait until they get to the 65 to 69 age group. There aren't too many people around by then.

I got a medal for third place. The two ladies that beat me last week beat me this week. I guess I'm going to have to work on improving my time.

Here is the medal I won. On the back they have the date and place.

The farmers market was still going on when we headed back to the car and I had enough money with me that I was able to purchase a small basket of home grown tomatoes. Now that's the best prize of all !

RACE REPORT

Christy and I had signed up for this race, it's one we have done the last two years and is put on by the Second Chance Baptist Church. My running coach is the pastor and I like to support his race.

It was raining when I woke at 5 am, I could hear the pitter patter and was thinking I didn't want to run in the rain. " well, then you can walk" replied Christy. She didn't get it, I didn't want to get wet.

We got our chips on and then went to get something to eat and look for my friend Maggie.

This is the course near the end, you run along the creek.

The ducks were loving this rain. Woo Hoo !!!

This year the trophys were done by the people from Outward Bound. Each one is different and some even put a message on the back. I got 3rd place in my age group and mine was signed.

Maggie and I are hoping we'll win one of the cool door prizes. It was great to see her and nice of her to come out and run with me, especially in the yucky weather.

SOOOO GOOD !!!

OMG, these were delicious. Warm from the oven with carmel coating the pecans and slowly oozing off and over the side. The best part they were warm from the oven so of course I had to sample one, actually I shared with Christy so I only had a half.

I'm guessing there are a lot of calories in these so made sure I got to the gym today to run.

SHOULDERS

Today was my last training session, shoulders and chest. It seemed like it was more shoulders than chest and my shoulders are a bit sore. When my session was over I headed upstairs to do some cardio on the elliptical for 20 minutes. Now I am home doing laundry and making the Ultimate Sticky Buns from Cook's magazine , All -Time Best Recipes, I'll let you know how they turn out.

LABOR DAY

I was feeling sore from yesterday and tried to talk Christy into taking my training session. She would have none of that, so I had to go. I warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes and then met Jacob. He thought I should do back and biceps and that sounded good to me. By the time we finished I was sweating and tired but figured I would do 10 more minutes on the bike.

I don't know what I was thinking but on the way home I decided to drive by the track and if it wasn't busy I would do some running. There was one guy there and he looked like he was waiting for someone so I started out. One lap done and the humidity was killing me. Took some water and did another lap. Enough! I walked back to the car and went home.

CRAB WALK

Sunday, workout with Jillian. Christy picked workout 2, it didn't look too bad. I spoke too soon. It was a lot of lunges, 50 basic, 20 crossover with hammer curls, and 20 static with reverse fly. Ugh, at least they weren't all at once. When we got to circuit 3 she wanted a crab walk, ten forward and ten backward. I don't know if I looked like a crab but I felt like a beached whale trying to do it. This workout for some reason seemed like a struggle for us and we were trying to figure out why. We were so exhausted that we didn't even finish with the cardio.

WAVE HELLO

I love to run outside because it gives me a chance to see other people on the trails. It seems just nicer than being on a treadmill and staring at a TV that is usually on the news channel. However the last few times I have run outside I have found a lot of very UNFRIENDLY people. I'd say hi and they'd say nothing.

Would it hurt to say hello or wave your hand. I run alone. I don't have someone to talk to and sometimes just a hello makes me feel like I'm not out there alone. So next time you're out running and someone says hi, return it with a hi or a wave of the hand.

I ran 4.68 miles today.

RUN OR SWEEP ?

This morning I was planning on running but then we had had storms last night and the sky still looked like it could open up and rain. I was all set to go, had my shoes on and gear out but the more I waited around the more I thought I should stay home and clean, the carpet could use a good vacuuming. So in the end I didn't go, but my house looks nice and clean.

Yesterday I had a training session with Jacob. He picked biceps and triceps and gave me quite a workout. Today my triceps are still sore, which means I had a good workout. I have 2 more sessions left before I am on my own.

AWESOME YOGURT

Back in August my daughter Katy at http://www.katy-shops.com/ wrote about a Greek yogurt that she really liked. I had never heard of this brand or seen it in my stores. Sunday while talking with my youngest, she said that Costco was carrying it. Yesterday I made a trip over to Costco and bought a box, three flavors, twelve containers! It has 15 grams of protein and no fat!

Today I ran outside for 4.65 miles, but lets have honesty time, I only ran half that and walked the rest. If I had a phone with me I would have called for a ride. My legs were tired from yesterdays workout. When I got home I wanted something to fill me up and help me recover. I tried the yogurt, OMG it is soooo good.