2/14 NIU Remembers: A Day of Reflection

Today marks the one year anniversary of the shooting at Northern Illinois University.

For those that don't know or haven't pieced it together, I used to work for the local paper as their webmaster. We always had a police scanner on in the newsroom where I worked (technically it was one big building with just the four walls, just sectioned off). Around 3:06p we heard that there was shooting on the Northern Illinois University campus. We already had a photographer down on campus and luckily a few buildings over. One of his photos from that day was picked up by AP and used all over the United States. Our editor sent every reporter (3) and photographer (2) down to the scene. Then he sent me. I knew how to take video on one of our digital cameras. I got down there at 3:30p. All cell phone reception was immediately gone. I found the original photographer and he helped me learn to be a reporter, to ask the questions, to get the interviewee to talk. I got some good clips, one of an injured being wheeled out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. I hate to say that way but at that time, I was in "working" mode. Later that day, I was updating the stories online continuously, new headlines with the number of injured and dead. The word "dead" didn't mean anything to me. It was just a word. The video and pictures were constantly added to the web. I worked very hard as did all of us that day. When I finally got off work around 2am, I went over to my boyfriends house and I broke down. He was sleeping on the couch, waiting for me. He did his best, supporting me as he was tired and he still had to get up the next morning and work. At that time, I realised what the word dead really meant. That 5 young students lost their lives. The words of their actions finally sunk in. I went to several events in the days following. Leading up to a memorial service, NIU held a week later, that Brent and I attended. I needed to go. I held his hand the entire time, I put my head on his shoulder, the tears slid down my cheeks. I was glad that he was there that day. A month to the day, was my last day at the Daily Chronicle.

Right now, there is another memorial service going on for the anniversary. I couldn't bring myself to go. I do still need the support. The someone to hold my hand. To let me rest my shoulder on them. Yesterday at Kishwaukee College, there was a memorial service. It upset me. I wore what I was wearing that day. It had red in it to support my Northern Illinois Huskies. During my run this morning, I kept thinking of what I was doing that morning, how I was working, not knowing any different. I already had an interview set up for Kishwaukee College for the following week and another interview with another company the next day, which I ended up having to reschedule. After the run today, we went to Panera for a gathering and some coffee, or in my case, hot chocolate. As I was leaving, right before 10:30a so I could get home and watch the memorial service online, I ran into the original photographer that was down there. He left the paper not soon after me and I heard that he moved out East. I sat down and we talked for a while. He came back for this very day since he was the first one down there. He doesn't shoot any more but for fun and totally is doing something far different than working in newspapers. He wasn't going to the memorial service either but probably some of the events later on in the afternoon. I had thought about attending the candlelight service at 6pm but it's going to be a media circus down there. CBS2Chicago already did a special on the survivors last night. A couple Rockford stations as well.

Just earlier this week, I had thought of the ones still at Daily Chronicle and those who have left and wonder if it still affects them. I wondered especially about Eric and Jim Bowey, the editor, who really became someone different that day, a great leader, directing us in the way he wanted to take the paper for the next week.

After Eric & I talked for a little bit, we split up and I headed home to watch the memorial service online. I scroll down and see that it's also on WTVO out of Rockford so now I have that on instead. What they're doing now is good. 5 different people reading short lines about ones lost and lines from celebrities. It was good, very nicely done and read nicely too. I will watch the rest of this and be thinking of Northern Illinois University, Huskies past & present and of course of the families of the ones we lost that day; Dan, Gayle, Julianna, Catalina and Ryanne.

It's powerful how something can still affect your emotions, a year later.

Categories: Brent, NIU

Yay, professional photos!!

Yay, the professional photos are in! There's only 2 of me but Chicken Brent is in one of them!

Categories: Brent, pictures, St. Jude Marathon

Extra workout & the nephew

I don't know how I did it. I ran 8 miles on Saturday and then I hiked around Maquoketa Caves State Park and went spelunking. Holy cow!! I went through some really tiny places. Quite the workout that's for sure!!









Pictures from the day:


My nephew is now bald. Well, almost. His mother was giving him a hair cut today and apparently he moved and buzzz, a chunk was gone. This is going to be like last year. My nephew is very blonde. So last year at the St. Jude Half Marathon, his hair was shaved very closely like that and while we were going through the Expo, people were looking at him. He looked like he had cancer and had lost all his hair. So I'm sure that this is going to happen to him again this year. I'm sure going through the Expo, this will happen again. People sure were treating me differently when they saw him. I really like his hair longer! It's so cute and blonde!

Categories: Brent, nephew, pictures, St. Jude Marathon

St. Louis Half Marathon

I've never ran a race in which had so many hills (well, except for the Turtle Trot but it's a trail race so I don't think that counts). And this warm in November. 72 in NOVEMBER! Needless to say I still managed a decent time of 2:06:51. Just a few minutes over my time of my very first half marathon. After looking at the official results on the clubs website, I even came in 6th out of my age group! That's awesome!

The first mile was hills. The second mile was downhill and the third mile was even better. I ran negative splits those miles. After that I went all over the place in terms of pace.

So many hills. Have I said that yet? But the worst part was the water tables. First one was at 3 miles and every 2.5 miles after that. I decided not to bring my hydration belt with me. That was a mistake. I knew at St. Jude that I would have the option of having water at every single mile so I didn't with that one. I wish I would have known better for this one. There were times in which I wanted water soooo bad but I had no idea when the next table was going to be! Or I needed to cool down and dump water over my head but I couldn't. And then there was the TRAFFIC at the tables. At the very first table, the cups had no water in them as they were pouring them as we were arriving. So no one was around to actually hand out the cups of water. I had to walk through every single table too. One time, my Garmin actually stopped because I myself stopped.

The problem is with this race too is that I don't remember much of where the hills were at because I wasn't familiar enough with the route. Between 5 & 6, I slowed way down. I think that was another hill. At mile 8, things just fell apart. It was very warm out there and my speed just totally slowed down. I even purposely ran over to the other side of the road just to run in some shade. It was w.a.r.m out there!!

Coming out of Forest Park, they actually made us stop while the traffic went. This was for about 30 seconds, maybe longer. It was very hard to get going again after that. I just couldn't believe it but at the same time understand since by this time the race had been going on for nearly 3 hours (walkers started at 7a).

Back down the straight away. I started to count my steps this time between parking spots. I took 7 in each parallel spot. This part I spaced out and don't remember much. I remember seeing what looked like a homeless lady cheer us on and she was covered in Obama signs. Earlier in the race on the first time on the straight away I saw a young lady in an Obama shirt. Funny since I only see McCain/Palin bumper stickers & yard signs it seems.

Then back into the business district of Clayton. More cross roads, luckily no traffic, cops at the intersections. Then I see a hill. Oh goodness, the hill. I was just at 2:03 so I knew I wouldn't PR. I just gritted my teeth and hit it. Then I get to the top. Brent appears next to me! Oh my goodness, so glad to see him! He started running with me letting me know how the next part of the race was going. I tell him only .5 miles left (I think or it was .6). He was saying so many motivational stuff. Saying that it's just downhill and a very small uphill around a corner and then another downhill to the finish. So he was with me. I told him to pace me as in he kept me going. Then after the last uphill and finally going downhill he said push it push it and I managed to pass a couple as well. That was fun. He didn't finish with me and he ran off in the crowd I'm guessing.

I forgot to stop my Garmin watch as I crossed the line but that's ok. I went over to a volunteer who had a milk crate in front of her so she could cut off my chip. I couldn't lift up my left leg! and I kept falling over. She finally reached out her hand and I grabbed it to steady myself and then put my foot up and she quickly cut it off. Then I went to the exit and the lady handed me a medal and then she let go before I could grab it so it dropped to the ground. She wasn't moving to get it so I reached down to grab it and then she saw me do it and started to get it herself but I beat her to it and then she apologised and said that I should never have to do that. Needless to say I was a little light headed reaching down like that!

Then I caught back up with Brent. He took me over to the water station. I grabbed a bottle of water & Strawberry Propel and then a banana as well even though I wasn't hungry. Then we headed inside the building to stretch. While we were in there, we heard that there was going to be a raffle. So we each grabbed a ticket. After a few winners, Brent's number won! He got a gift certificate of dinner for 2 at some restaurant in Clayton! This is the second race in a row that he won in the raffle!

We didn't stay for the awards but did check out the final results on our way out. While stretching I took off my shoe and rubbed the bottom of my right foot. The ball of my foot was still hurting. We walked out and I stopped by the massage tent but they were starting to pack up so I didn't get looked at. I figured I would just Google it later.

Then we went home, Brent rolled me out so very much. Took a shower and and ate pizza. Glorious pizza! Then I left around 4p but didn't stop until I was 30 minutes from home for gas. Getting out and walking wasn't too bad. I mean, I could feel my muscles but I wasn't limping (well, the bottom of my foot hurt A LOT).

After I got done with the race, I told Brent that I wasn't planning on running the St. Louis Marathon in April after all. Cause seriously if it was like this, there's no way I could run that! We'll see though. Maybe my foot problems will get better.

The elevation table & weather text is very much the epitome of the race!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 515 ft Location: Clayton, MO Elev. Gain: +10 ft Date: 11/02/08 Up/Downhill: [+669/-659] Time: 08:05 AM Difficulty: 3.5 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 68 F temp; 65% humidity 68 F heat index; winds SW 7 Performance Distance: 13.16 miles Time: 2:06:48 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 38 /mi Calories: 1359 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 12 -0' 26 6.5 +0.3 +56 ft 2 9' 04 -0' 34 6.6 +0.4 0 ft 3 8' 47 -0' 51 6.8 +0.6 -98 ft 4 9' 14 -0' 24 6.5 +0.3 -6 ft 5 9' 09 -0' 29 6.5 +0.3 -17 ft 6 9' 49 +0' 11 6.1 -0.1 +69 ft 7 9' 16 -0' 22 6.5 +0.2 -62 ft 8 9' 53 +0' 15 6.1 -0.2 +30 ft 9 9' 47 +0' 09 6.1 -0.1 -39 ft 10 10' 07 +0' 29 5.9 -0.3 +16 ft 11 10' 39 +1' 01 5.6 -0.6 +59 ft 12 10' 19 +0' 41 5.8 -0.4 +30 ft 13 10' 00 +0' 22 6.0 -0.2 +3 ft end 12' 20 +2' 42 4.9 -1.4 -30 ft Versus average of 9' 38 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Brent, St. Louis Half Marathon

16 miles

It's been nearly a week now since I had my long run of 16 miles and I should talk about it before I forget it entirely.

I got up early and ate my oatmeal and bagel. That seemed to be enough food for me. However, getting Brent up and going was another task all in itself. Once he was up, he tried putting his new bike rack on his car but it didn't work too well. So he couldn't take his bike. Come to find out, that worked out quite fine.

Off to the park. After doing a lot of research, I found Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park and it sounded like their trails were long enough to make it work without having too much boredom or repetition. We found a parking spot and luckily, we passed a Casino on the way to the park so Brent said that's where he was going to go to hang out in the 2 hours and 40 minutes I thought it was going to take me.

It was kinda chilly out but Brent was nice enough to lend me his long sleeved shirt and said that I could dump it if I get too hot. I also had my gloves and a snot rag with me as well. I had my hydration belt, 2 bottles with water and 2 bottles with red Gatorade. I also had 2 different types of gels with me after the last week debacle with the Shot Bloks.

Off I went, things went well at first. I realised that I didn't have my battery pack for my camera so I ended up holding it for a long time. There was a Diabetes walk gathering up. The first time around I didn't see too many people. It was pretty easy out. There were a few bikers that didn't bother saying anything like "On Your Left" or "Coming Behind You!" Stupid ass bikers.

However the second time around, I started to run into groups of walkers taking up the ENTIRE path, on both sides of the yellow middle line. I was so pissed. There were many times in which I had to cut in the middle of the pack because no one bothered moving to one side after I said something.

Between mile 5-6 I ate my first gel. It wasn't too bad. It was a Raspberry HammerGel. I kept on moving. Things going fine. I had taken off my gloves at this point and tucked them in my belt however, I kept losing one of them and having to backtrack to get it. I had also taken off his shirt but just left it around my neck floating behind me and it wasn't that bad for me to do.

I was watching my Garmin, making sure my pace was steady and watching the Avg Pace to see that it stays around 9:35 or so. Sure enough, for a couple miles there, I was around 9:35! Pretty cool!

Between mile 10-11 I took my other gel. That one didn't taste as good and it was a Strawberry-Banana PowerGel. That's what a lot races use though and I have used in the past. Just gonna keep trying out the different ones.

Here comes the odd part: around 14.67 miles I got a really weird foot thing going on. My left arch was seriously hurting and my right foot started hurting bad too but I couldn't figure out where. But my left one I was most worried about. It seriously felt like my arch had fallen. It was sooo hurting. But after another mile or so it was gone. I'm not sure what happened there unless it was a cramp. I never had a cramp while running before. So that was a first.

At the end, I was back and forth a while trying to get my 16 miles. I saw my Avg Pace keep getting higher and higher but hey, 16 miles! Gotta give me a break somewhere! At one point, I was passing another runner and still in my lane and this kid comes running from behind his group of family and directly into me, making me scream and knocking me off my game. As I scream and he stumbles over me and into the girl that I was passing. It was just bad all over. The mothers just stare at me as I throw my hands up in the air in frustration.

I see Brent driving by, I wave, he waves and then he parks and comes running up to the path and runs the last .6 miles with me. That was nice. I ask what time it was. He said almost 12:15. So not what I was expecting him to say! All in all, I stopped my watch and it said 2:35. Which is 5 minutes faster than I predicted! and 5 minutes is HUGE in running! Come to find out that was an average of 9:44 min/mi which is good for 16 miles! If I kept that up (which I doubt I will) I'll have run a 4:15 marathon!

I didn't get much stretching done afterward since he had to go to his second whiffle ball game at 1p. I had to go to the bathroom too but that had to wait as well. We made it to the diamond at the very end of the first game and I took the liberty to stretch nicely after that on the grass in the sun. Brent also rubbed my poor feet a little bit between innings.

Once we got home, I took a shower. I had plenty of salt on me! Then Brent was nice enough to rub me down with his foam roller. And he quit enjoyed making me scream out in pain. But it was the good type of pain and something I really needed! Holy cow, it hurt but felt so good. And really good when he rolled it over my arches. My poor feet. We later went to Six Flags where there was a lot of walking but I managed to do it.

On Sunday, Brent again rubbed me down and found a huge knot in my left thigh that he just kept rubbing over and over and over. I think he was a sadist at that time because he had such the evil, devilish grin on his face. But I'll tell you what, it worked! My train ride didn't hurt at all.

So now to this week. I have been sick since Monday night. So no running at all since that Saturday morning. I have a 10k race on Sunday and was supposed to do another 6 afterward to make it a total of 12. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Should I run Friday evening to get out the cobwebs? Or run on Saturday morning to give my body a few more hours of rest? I have a great pain in my facial cavities now from sinus pressure. I'm taking decongestants but I don't think it's working too well. I have no idea what to do. I don't know if I'll be able to run at all until this thing clears up. I can barely walk normally. On top of all that I'm coughing like a fiend as well!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 450 ft Location: Earth City, MO Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/18/08 Up/Downhill: [+114/-114] Time: 09:49 AM Difficulty: 2.4 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 56 F temp; 57% humidity 56 F heat index; winds NE 9 Performance Distance: 16.00 miles Time: 2:35:42 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 44 /mi Calories: 1617 Map Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 18 -0' 26 6.5 +0.3 0 ft 2 9' 42 -0' 02 6.2 +0.0 0 ft 3 9' 36 -0' 08 6.2 +0.1 0 ft 4 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 5 9' 22 -0' 22 6.4 +0.2 0 ft 6 9' 28 -0' 16 6.3 +0.2 0 ft 7 9' 40 -0' 04 6.2 +0.0 0 ft 8 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 9 9' 56 +0' 12 6.0 -0.1 +19 ft 10 10' 00 +0' 16 6.0 -0.2 -20 ft 11 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 12 10' 05 +0' 21 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 13 9' 34 -0' 10 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 14 9' 48 +0' 04 6.1 -0.0 0 ft 15 9' 59 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 16 9' 51 +0' 07 6.1 -0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 44 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 16 miles, Ballwin, Brent, Creve Coeur, sick

Autumn on Parade 5k

I have no idea if it was the 10 mile "warm-up" yesterday, the apple cider donut I ate this morning, the 46* or the rain that was falling but everything in the Heavens lined up today and I ran a 5k PR. 25:34 (Garmin time). By only a few seconds, I now find out, but I ran it perfect today.

Apparently, I just looked at my Race Calendar and I ran the very same race, Autumn on Parade 5k in 2006 (my second race ever) in 25:36. I totally forgot about that time. I can only assume that it was also the correct mileage. Today's race was 3.05. It's funny though because it was cold that day as well. I remember clutching my iPod Shuffle in my hand and my hand being so cold that it was hard to open at the end of the run. But I do remember that run being hard and difficult. This run, not so much.

After my 7 mile run on Wednesday, I didn't exactly do a good job stretching. I sat on my couch, tried syncing my Garmin with my computer. It didn't work. Took a shower. Then sat back down on my couch, crossed legged and tried doing it again. I got up hours later from the couch and then I felt a twinge in my left calf.

I got up Thursday morning a little sore in that area. I didn't run that night because of the program I was going to. Didn't run Friday. Saturday was my 10 mile and it was tight and sore but I ran it anyway. Brent rolled it out for me last night and he said he could feel a knot. This morning, it was a little stiff and sore to walk.

We drove for the 40 minutes over to Oregon and when I got out of the car, it was stiff again. Walked to the packet pickup and it felt loosened up. Good. Back to the car to stay warm. In DeKalb it was supposed to start raining around 9a and since we went West, we were sure that we were going to get it before that. Come to find out that the race started at 8:30a NOT 8a like I thought. Whoops. That's what I get for not reading the signup email!

Got to the start at 8:15a and spent the next 15 minutes trying to hear what the announcers were saying and eventually stopped caring when their speakers gave out. Instead I just curled up next to Brent's chest to stay warm. I wore lined cotton running shorts, a short sleeved shirt and gloves. I was glad for the gloves. Brent wished that he would have brought his with after all.

It had started raining as we were walking up the start. Brent wished, and I agreed, that the race would have started at 8a after all, then we could have missed out on the rain. It ended up raining the entire race. This is the 3rd year for it and the 3rd time I ran it. So pretty cool. But they changed up the entire route this year. We started at the normal place but went further into town so that was cool running through the tents of the crafters and seeing their smiling faces and waving at us. Then we went the opposite direction of the way we've gone other years. Then the finish was the best part of it, around the high school track!

Brent and I stayed together for a little bit of the first mile but then he dropped back and I said to him, remember to walk if you need to. He hasn't run a mile since August 27th when he hurt his back!! 1st mile was in 8:28. I didn't know I was moving that fast. I was like whoops! Then second mile split was 8:36. OK, so now I'm slowing down but that's still really fast for me. That's when I came across "the girl." I saw her walking as we were going up a hill. After I passed her, she started running again and zoomed past me. Then we passed the 2 mile time guy and she was flailing so I told her just a mile left. She ended up staying behind me. I passed a guy and told him just a half mile left. He was flailing as well. He at least thanked me for letting him know. I was still breathing OK at this time. The third mile split was 8:10.

Then we came across a 45 degree turn along a chainlink fence. This girl comes sprinting up behind me and passes me on the left on the inside corner of the turn and then zooms to the outside to the right cause she was going too fast. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! I nearly trip over her feet and my own! Then she stops suddenly when the triangle carnival flags end. As I passed her, I said the race isn't done. I probably shouldn't have for then she started running again, cut in front of me so that she was on the left. But it didn't last long. She was slowing down again. The next turn was pretty tight. It was a 90 degree turn and since it had been raining that day, it was slippery. So what did I do? I didn't slow down, said "Passing on your right" and then I grabbed the chainlink fence for help making the turn. I never saw her again. She didn't have any kick left in her, I guess. Then out on the track for a half lap. It was great. I looked at my watch and it said 24:33 and I said wow, could I do this in under 25 minutes?! But I crossed the line at 25:38 (took me about 4 seconds to cross the line) I'm sure that if it would have been a sunnier day then there would be more people in the grandstands.

After I crossed the line, I stayed on the track looking for Brent to come around the corner and there he was! So as he entered in the track, I ran with him. He was doing great!! I was so proud of him. And then he turned on the afterburners! I totally couldn't even keep up with him with that speed! Wow! I yelled to him, I see fire under your feet! :-) Then I showed him my time. He was pretty impressed. So was I!

We walked by a physical therapy people and I asked for a massage. Said that they don't do massages. So then I told him about my calf muscle and he said that he'll take a look at it. He sprayed some BioFreeze on my calf and started rubbing it out. He wasn't going at it all that hard though. He had me flip over, lifted up my leg and bent my ankle and I could feel the stretch in the calf. He said that it's probably going to be sore for a while. So I think I'm going to take off running until Wednesday now.

Brent won a raffle though. They pulled his number for the #1 spot and he won $100 to Runner's Image in Rockford for 1 pair of Nike shoes. How cool is that?! He says he never wins anything but he did today. Two years ago I won a $20 RoadID gift certificate. Problem is that he won't be back up here before the end of the year when it expires so he gave this certificate to me. I may just turn around and buy him a pair of shoes instead! I'm hoping that I can just use it for something else.

The first year, 2006, I came in 3rd place with a time of 25:36. I was pretty stoked about that. This year, 2008, 25:34 and NO MEDAL! Geez... Every race I've been in has just been getting bigger and bigger so it's harder and harder for me to medal now! We stayed for the awards cause Brent was sure that I had medaled. Actually me too! But I guess not. That was pretty disappointing for sure. Maybe it's because I'm now 28 and the 25 year olds are beating me. Guess I'll just have to wait until I hit 30 and then I'll be able to beat the 34 year olds. :-)

So all in all, it was a great race. I can't wait to see the results online to see the final times and where the 3rd place 25-29 female was at in relation to me. I'm going to be highly disappointed if I came in 4th by 10 seconds or so! I swear, the other races I've been in, that top three is usually in the 24 and 25's for a 5k. Guess today was a totally different story.

Brent & I came back home to take a nap for an hour and then he rolled me out again. Only this time it was both calves that was sore. I'm thinking my right calf was trying to make up for my left calf's weakness. So icing it will be tonight! Brent left an hour and a half ago. So Saturday is my 15 mile run and I'll be doing that alone. Shall be interesting! And I swear, no running until Wednesday!

Here's the link to my Garmin stats.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 709 ft Location: Oregon, IL Elev. Gain: -6 ft Date: 10/05/08 Up/Downhill: [+85/-91] Time: 08:33 AM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.05 miles Time: 0:25:34 Speed: 7.2 mph Pace: 8' 23 /mi Calories: 311 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 27 +0' 04 7.1 -0.1 -3 ft 2 8' 35 +0' 12 7.0 -0.2 +16 ft 3 8' 08 -0' 15 7.4 +0.2 -17 ft end 7' 05 -1' 18 8.5 +1.3 -3 ft Versus average of 8' 23 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: aches and pains, Autumn On Parade 5k, Brent

Tomorrow Morning

Boy, it's going to be cold tomorrow morning.
Temperature tonight will be 36 and then by 7a, it should be 39. 7a is the time that I had hoped to start running.
Looks like I have to break out my cold weather tights and my long sleeved shirt!
I HIGHLY doubt that Brent will be joining me tomorrow morning after all! HA!
Might have to swing by Starbucks on the way out to the trail to pick up my hot cocoa!

I have finally uploaded my email address book to St. Jude's fundraising website.
I hope to send out emails on Sunday night after Brent leaves.
I don't think I saved an email from last year when I sent them out, so not sure what I said.
It was just a template which made it very easy.
They switched to a new fundraising site this year. It seems to be not as cool or easy. It took FOREVER for the address book upload window to show up.
So if anyone has my email from last year, I would appreciate it if you could send it back to me! :-)

My snail mail letter has increased from 1/2 page to 1.5 pages now!
That's because I talked about last years race and stuff.
I'm hoping to send that out this week.
I must go to Office Max and have everything printed out since my printer doesn't work.
Unless I buy a printer online or something.

Now I'm just waiting for Brent to show up. Should be in another 30 minutes or so!

Categories: Brent, cold weather, fundraising, St. Jude Marathon

Running

Brent and I has had this joke going on since we first got together. Kinda odd really. But a month after we started dating, he went off to New Zealand. He said, you better not get together with Paco. Why a Mexican name, not sure. His hookup girls name ended up being Jasmine. And now that he's moved away, we still play with that.

Anyway, so I ran tonight with my new Garmin (more on that later) and when I FINALLY got it synced with my computer (in the settings of the watch the pairing was turned off so it wasn't being recognised) it asked me to name my Garmin. I'm not very genius when it comes to that. So I called up Brent. He named his iPod, FlyPod. My iPod? Lindsay's iPod. Like I said, not a genius. But he didn't have a clue. So I got mad at him, a little, and said that I'm going to get off the phone so I can figure this out. He didn't want to let me go because I was mad. I was just going to name it Lindsay's Garmin or something. But then I thought of the little story up top and using Paco but decided nah, that needs to stay in that story. I always said when I was single that Running is my Boyfriend. So then I thought about naming him Brent. But what if Brent and I split? So then, I thought of the podcast that I listen to, Pheidippidations and decided to shorten it to Phil. Phil is named for Pheidippides, who was the runner that announced the victory of the Greek in the Battle of Marathon. After he ran the distance 150 miles in 2 days and then the 26 miles from the city of Marathon to Athens, he shouted "We have won!" and then died. The 385 yards (.2) came from the British family who wanted to see the start of the race from their castle so they moved the starting line to accommodate her request, or so the stories go.

OK, so now to the running. It was great. I didn't even notice it acquiring the satellite. All I had to do was set it up for training, then hit the button for start and started running. Then when I was done, the same button again to stop. I didn't notice the Virtual Partner until after I was done. So I haven't played with that yet. I was able to see my time, my pace and the distance all very clear. It seemed very accurate with what my last Nike+ (the one that was calibrated right) which is good to know. The pace was off very much though. At times it said I was doing a 10:54 pace. I can change that from Pace to Speed which would show me what speed I was going. So I thought I was running prety slow but once I stopped it, it said I was going at a 9 minute pace. Well, damn. I didn't know that. The GPS did feel kinda heavy on my arm, especially toward the end. When I was done with the 7 miles, my left arm just felt weird. I had the GPS and my iPod on my upper arm in the armband so it was full of gadgets. What's cool about the software is that it told me what my route was. That was neat to see. And then I can go to mapmyrun.com and make a route and send it to my GPS. Or at least there's a link for that.

I thought the Chicago Marathon was on October 5th. For the past two years it has always been on the same day as a 5k I run the first weekend in October. Well, this year, probably because of the heat of last year, they postponed it a week and it's held on the 12th not the 5th when I have my race. Which mean, I could very well, go in and see the race. I've never seen it. I think that'll be cool. Then I can print out my Amtrak tickets at Union Station too. I know a couple people running in it locally and then there's Jesse who I ran with last weekend. I know that I won't be able to point them out but it'll still be cool. I got nothing going on that weekend either. Well, besides a long run on Saturday morning. We'll see.

I mentioned in a few posts ago about listening to audiobooks on my long runs now. Well, I was reading through my Google Reader and noticed that Dean Karnazes posted a blog back on the 22nd about audio books. Someone in the comments put a link up to gutenberg.org which has free classic audio books, some even human read! I'm very excited to see this. I'm thinking of downloading The Time Machine, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Romeo & Juliet, ALL of the Anne of Green Gables books, maybe a few Bible books, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma.

I also ran in my new shoes. Didn't really notice a difference. Still hurt my toes. After I was done, I curled my toes and it hurt to do that. With both feet. Maybe I just need to stretch the arch more? Or my toes better? I don't know.

Best news of the night: I ran a 10k (6.2 miles) in 55:55! That's about the time that I ran my Pumpkinfest 10k last year during my half marathon training! We'll see how the 10 miles goes on Saturday.

Categories: 7 miles, Brent, garmin, shoes

Running in Chicago!

Guess what I'm doing on Saturday?! Running in Chicago!!! Along the lakefront! I'm so stoked!

Jesse from Blogspot just finished his second 20 miler on Sunday. So I knew that he was still going to have a high mileage day but not that high so I could run with him. Sure enough, he's got 12 and I got 13. I left a comment on his blog asking if he wanted to run together along the lakefront. And so we're meeting at the Bean and running south from there since it's less crowded than going north he said.

I think I'm going to crash at Wes' place Friday night. I'll be driving to the Green Line, less than a mile from his place, taking that to Millennium Park and the Bean where I'll meet Jesse. Google Maps is telling me to take two buses. I'm not sure what to do. I need to have everything all ready to go and bring everything with me that I need since i won't have anywhere to store it. The Millennium Park skating rink (or what is the skating rink in winter) has lockers but I don't know if they are in useable in the summer. Jesse says that he stuffs everything in a zipper bag and hides it in a bush and in the past 4 months, no one has found it yet he said.

I almost got hit on my run today. I was three paces into the road when this guy, talking with his hands, zooms past me as I stop in the middle of the road. Not fun when it totally disrupts the forward progress I had going! I yelled at him, YIELD, he yelled back BITCH. Nice.

Yep, my Nike+ is totally off. So I guess I'll have to recalibrate it. Again. For the umpteenth time.

So the other weekend when I was in St. Louis, Brent went biking while I ran. I finally have the pictures. If you want to see me in a sports bra and a running skirt and then later cooling my legs in the very cold swimming pool at Brent's apartment complex, click here. :-)

Categories: Brent, pictures, running in chicago

7 mile run

From my LJ blog...

I am from northern Illinois, not really known for the humidity but there can be some hanging around sometimes but luckily, this summer has been relatively quiet so I haven't had to deal with it too much. I am currently in the St. Louis 'burbs visting my boyfriend. I knew I needed to do a 7 mile run today as I'm in week 6 of my marathon training. Last week, I told my boyfriend to go to Queeny Park, about a 15 minute drive from his place and check out the paths in the park.

I got up at 6am, wanting to hit the road on my feet by 7:15a at the latest. I already knew it was going to be a humid day. 72% humidity last night at 10pm! Stupid boyfriend didn't wake up and get out of bed until 7:15a. He was going to be beside me on the bike. He drove me over to Queeny Park and I got on the road at 7:45a. Grrr. Off we went.

There are plenty of hills in that park. I only went walking in there once and there's one big hill near the AKC Dog Museum and it's a monster! I ran up one hill near the 2 mile mark and that wasn't too bad but it was also near the beginning of my run. Then luckily, I ran DOWN the monster hill. I put on the brakes big time. I ran past a lady in the skirt and I was also wearing a skirt, I said "Nice skirt!" with a smile on my face. She took offense to that, my boyfriend said, and she kept pulling it down. Geez...

Then it was sun time, I was out of the shaded forest. I was feeling bad, my run was going so slow by this time and I hadn't even reached the 5k mark yet! Got there in 32 minutes (though my Nike+ is a bit off but I'm sure it was over 30 minutes time anyway. My boyfriend was helping me by encourging me to get going and up and over these tiny hills and telling me where to go; I told him, you lead, I follow. I just didn't want to think about where to go at that point.

Around mile 6, I ran up the same hill that I ran up around mile 2. This time though, I was crying up. I wanted to walk so bad, my legs were heavy limbs that I just couldn't drag up the hill. I was literally crying and with my crying jag I couldn't breathe. It was HORRIBLE. My boyfriend talked me through it though and he was on his bike and I could hear that he was having a hard time talking to me and biking up it himself. Back down the monster hill. More brakes.

Finally, the end is in sight!

Since I knew my Nike+ is off a bit, I decided to go 7.2 miles. I told my boyfriend, .2 left to go. He said just aim for the light post. So I started trucking it. I made it! 1:16:33. Then I realised that on my 3.1 mile run on Thursday, I completed my normal 3.1 route before Nike+ said I did. So then I would have completed my 7 miles around 6.8 or so. So I stupidly ran FARTHER than I should have gone! Like I said, I wasn't thinking right by that time. I could hardly figure out what milage was left when I saw 6.69! I just couldn't do the math! :-)

Needless to say, we came back to boyfriends apartment complex and I jumped in the pool. HAHA! It was cold but oh so refreshing! I needed it for my ankles and my poor poor hamstrings and quads. I used to hate cold water baths but now I'm all about them! They make me not hurt the next day! Stupid hills.

So while it may have sucked and while I did have a total breakdown (which I feel more letdown on that then on the time of the 7 miles) on the last hill, I did manage to run 7 miles. This Saturday is running 12 miles. I'll be doing it alone. No boyfriend (to delay my start OR to help me through the rough times). And I'm still doing it in southern Illinois, just over by Carbondale this time. Hopefully, it'll cool off a bit by then.

Categories: 7 miles, Ballwin, Brent, hills, humidity

More like noRun

I never ran in the entire month of July. Wow. I haven no idea how I did it. There were times in which I wanted to run or needed to run but never got out there and did it. My weekends were busy with the boyfriend and then at the end of the month we were getting his place all packed and together and then of course I had RAGBRAI the week before his move.

I mostly biked in July. So my muscles should still be in good shape, save for my knees.

I went running last night for the first time since June 29th. I ran 3.1 miles in 30 minutes. Pretty slow. First 1.7 miles were just over 10 minutes. Second part I sped it up so that I was running faster (yay negative splits!) and was going 9:10 or so. The last half mile I sped it up even more and was going 8:48. For an average of 9:47. Not bad as that's probably what I'll end up doing for the marathon and my training pace need to be slower than that.

Today, the muscles outside my hips hurt. My thighs hurt a little. Calves I feel nothing. I didn't feel any pain in my knee today but did after my run last night. I put it up, didn't use ice, and it feels fine this morning. I must always remember my knee bands.

Brent rode his bike with me last night. It was good to have someone else there with me, able to talk to me. I eventually told him to help me. Then I told him to count and with each number, I planted my foot down. It helped with my foot rotation and kept my mind off my pain. My lungs were also dead, mainly because it was still 78 when I left high humidity and I didn't have any water. I could hear the phlegm in my breathing. Next time, he'll have to bring a water bottle to put on his bike so he can douse me with it every now and then.

Oh and since I run on a bike path that's through some wooded areas, I need to spray down with some bug repellent. Mosquitoes were all over me last night and kept distracting me from my running and disrupting my form.

Saturday is 6 miles. That'll be interesting. I bet I'll be going way slow or even walking some of it. I also plan on doing that out at the Great Western Trail in Sycamore. Maybe early in the morning. It's gonna be 80 that day.

Categories: Brent