Race expo & preparation

The expo was nice. I signed up for a Pace group for 4:30. I have the pace bib on my back of my jersey. Knowing my luck, I'll have this on my back and then finish in 5 hours and everything will laugh and point at me. :-) Jesse and I met up and walked around the Expo together. He bought new sunglasses and I bought a pullover that has the logo of St. Louis Marathon on it. I was disappointed that I didn't do the same last year at St. Jude Memphis Marathon as it being my first marathon. Afterwards, we went back to our respective hotels and decided that we would meet up for some dinner.

As soon as I got in the hotel room, I started unpacking everything. I now have my entire outfit laid out. The refridgerator was not working so I quickly called the front desk and they sent someone up to fix it and put my cream cheese and a bottle of water in there to chill over night.


Unfortunately this floor is a smoking floor so everything smells like smoke but as long as I can have the AC on, the smell is minimal. Also, my eyes started bothering me again this afternoon with allergies. Which is weird with the rain that we were having this afternoon. But I just spent $6 on a bottle of Clear Eyes at the hotel. Poops.

I also got a late 1pm checkout at the hotel. So after I'm done, I can come back to the hotel, shower, pack up the car, check out and go find Brent at the finish line as that's where he's going to be serving food in the finish area.

There was a really nice restaurant in the lower level of my hotel so we just met up there and had some nice pre-race dinner. I so love getting together with other running friends. It's so much fun to talk about running with someone! :-D

So now I'm going to chillax on the bed and watch some TV and get a good night's sleep. Up and at 'em at 5:45am! I will try to fit my cell phone in my bra again or in my SPIbelt and use Twitterfone on my Twitter to keep people up to date. If it's raining I may not do that, so we shall see. Either way, I'll be done by noon so you can check in after that to see my final time. I'll text it in once I crossed the line. I'm also going to text a few people personally when I'm finished.

See ya on the flip side of 26.2! Ready or not, here I run!

Categories: friends, Go St. Louis Marathon, pictures

5k done!

Got my 5k done. I ran with Brent for the first 1.8 miles. Thought between 9:45 and 10 min/mi pace would be good. Then we started to slow down and my legs were itching! I was actually SINGING! You know you're going to slow when you can sing. So I paused at the 2 mile mark to wait for him and then I said that I'll just see him at the finish line. He said that's fine. The guys behind him were yelling, Chase her! Don't let her get away, go after the skirt! I wore my running skirt and a bright lime green shirt. Too funny!


I turned the corner at the finish line and looked down at my watch and saw that I had 10 seconds before the 30 minute mark. I booked it! Unfortunately, I crossed the finish line at 30:06. First time I ran a 5k in over 30 minutes (before that was 29:05 on a trail race with a sore back muscle). Oh well. The timing was wrapped around our bibs but there was no mat at the start, so they go by gun time. It was 31 something when I crossed. No big deal though. I still got my medal!

I got lots of pictures of odd things though. A 3 person group; a guy had a shirt that say "Happy Birthday Mom." The middle girl shirt said "Hey 60, Screw you!" and the final shirt said "Happy Bday Me!"

Then we saw a camera crew filming an old guy. As I was walking up to the Visitors Centre to stay warm, I saw the crew and this old guy leaving. Then he was I guess near the front of the pack and we passed him walking and the crew in front of him filming him.

Oh my gosh, speaking of passing people. WHY DON'T WALKERS REALISE THAT THE THEY NEED TO GO TO THE BACK SO THEY DON'T CLOG UP THE ONES THAT WANT TO RUN!!! OK, rant over.

I also saw a shirt that said Families Run for Ovarian Cancer ROC Star 5k. I ran up beside her and asked her where she ran the race at and if it's going to be held this year. She said Chesterfield and in September. I asked if it raises money for Ovarian Cancer Research and she said yes. So there we go. If they don't have one up there (I've seen walks, no running though) then I want to do this race!! :-D Ran past my mom's hospital as well.


I feel bad though. I noticed at very last minute that I was passing a husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend team and he was reaching for her hand so they could cross the finish line together with their hands held high. And what did I do? I ran between them and the photographer (only one at finish line). I tried to really gun it so they could get a picture but I couldn't slow down any and I couldn't get on the right side of them since there was a pile over there. I feel horrible and afraid that Karma's gonna get me!

After the race, we left on the road that I will leave the park tomorrow during the marathon. So Brent got to see the road I'm going to run on. It's going to be interesting. I forgot about the rolling hills once you reach Clayton. They had their street contruction flashing light signs things out on the road already saying Marathon race tomorrow, proceed with caution. Also had no parking signs on every tree on Forsyth Rd.

Weather update: Weather.com finally has the hour-by-hour up. 57 at the start. 59 at 11 am. With 70% chance of rain the entire time. Poops. Jesse (who is running the half & also from Chicago) says that he's going to wear shorts and maybe a long sleeve thermal shirt. So I'll go with shorts and my arm warmers. I should be good!

One down, 1 to go!

On agenda for today: Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. EcoExpo at the Science Center. Marathon Expo at 3pm. Check in at hotel after expo. Pasta dinner somewhere. Then sleep and early wake-up tomorrow! Probably the same as today: 5:45 am.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 482 ft Location: University City, MO Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/18/09 Up/Downhill: [+160/-160] Time: 07:31 AM Difficulty: 1.6 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 60 F temp; 66% humidity 60 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 3.17 miles Time: 0:30:06 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 30 /mi Heart Rate: 173 bpm (Avg) Calories: 336 195 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 54 +0' 24 6.1 -0.3 158 -13 ft 2 10' 01 +0' 31 6.0 -0.3 178 +46 ft 3 8' 58 -0' 32 6.7 +0.4 186 -46 ft end 7' 33 -1' 57 7.9 +1.6 191 +13 ft Versus average of 9' 30 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Go St. Louis 5k, medals, races

Go! St. Louis Marathon weather forecast

Just a real quick post about this weekend.

Weather forecast: 60˚F and rainy. Only the worst weather to try to prepare for.

That's going to be the HIGH. Probably reached around 3pm or so. I'm going to be running from 7am to 11:30am.

In shorts, I'll be freezing at the start. In leggings, I may be too hot towards the end of the run.

The shirt I'll have no problem. I'll wear a sleeveless shirt & my arm warmers.

The rain will cause another problem with my socks. Do I carry dry ones with me in case it downpours or just hope that I won't need to change my socks halfway through? Looks like I won't need my sunglasses just my visor.

It's funny though. I just realised that I haven't even looked at the weather for Saturday morning during my 5k. Not that I think that little of it but just that this 26.2 is totally consuming my brain right now!

Oh well. That's why I have a big gym bag. So I can bring lots of options with me!!

I'm thinking I'm going to go with shorts. I've earned these calves. I want to show them off!! :-D

Categories: Go St. Louis Marathon, weather

Change of course -- Go! St. Louis Marathon update

They changed the course of this year's Go! St. Louis Half Marathon & Marathon. They're doing major construction on 40/64 (St. Louisans called Interstate 64 "40", I don't like it) and that seems to alter the course somehow. I don't know how since we weren't running on the interstate at all. But the good news is that the course doesn't meander through Forest Park as much. There's a lot of hills in der dat Park. But once we leave the Forest Park is where another big hill comes in. When I ran the half marathon in November, we ran into Forest Park and then back out on the same road as the one in the marathon so I know what to expect all ready. A nice long gradual hill. F-U-N!


View Larger Map

In fact, here's the elevation chart that I also got from mapmyrun.com. It's doesn't seem that bad except for that one long gradual hill. There's even a 2% grade uphill followed by a 2% downhill when we start running back towards Forest Park.

click to see bigger! you MUST click on this. INSANE!

I also downloaded a file from the mapmyrun.com/Google Maps version of this route that allows me to open it up in Goggle Earth. What a program that is! Anyway, I turned on the 3D buildings and of course downtown St. Louis is full of them and it even shows the Arch in 3D. At first I was just looking at it from a complete overview. Then I zoomed in and moved the "camera" to give me a better view of the Arch & buildings from the start of the race. I've seen on other sites, where you can do a fly-over of other marathon routes. I tried creating it but I wasn't very good at the turns. And you'll have to download the file and open it up in Google Maps to see the flyover. So I'm not going to post it. (click to see these bigger in a new window)

The start of the race heading towards downtown & the Arch! The Drury Inn at the bottom right is where I'm staying at the night before. Gonna be nice to be within a 15 minute walk of the start & end!

The entrance into Forest Park. My Mom's hospital is one of those buildings right north of the route.

The Finish Line. YAY! You can see the rest of the route in red in the far back.

I booked a hotel a while ago just in case (not soon enough, the 2nd to last one available!). My friend lives in Ballwin (about 35 minutes from downtown St. Louis) and said that we won't need to stay at a hotel. But the race starts at 7am. That means we would have to leave at 5:45 to get a parking spot (where ever that would be) deal with traffic & road closures. I just didn't want to take the chance. It's expensive and all I got was 1 King sized bed but I think being able to walk out the hotel at 6:30a have a 0.7 mile jog (to warm up the system) or a 14 minute walk, will be FANTASIC! We can leave the car there since I'll be done by 11:30a. I'm going to talk to the Hotel people beforehand to see if we can have a late check-out and I can shower or something.

What I have noticed on the Course Map provided by Go! St. Louis is that it doesn't mention any water stations and/or gel stations on the map. How can they not prepare us for that? I did find information on the website about how there's 10 medical stations but no mention of how many water/Gatorade stations. So I left a message on the Facebook Fan Page (they have been really good at getting back to those that leave questions on their wall) asking about this. I received a comment back saying:

"There are 17 fluid stations along the course - at approximately 2 mile intervals until mile 18, and then every mile thereafter. Stations will serve Gatorade Endurance Formula and water. The gel will be Hammer Gel, and it will be available near miles 14 and 23 (23 is mile 10 on the half marathon course)." (they've now updated their website with the updated information on aid stations)
I might bring some water with me in the race then. I made sure to drink water at every station at every mile in the Memphis Marathon but won't have the option this time around. I have ran long distance with my hydration belt but would really like to have a handheld water bottle that will lock onto my palm but since there's not a store around here that I could buy one, I won't be able to practice with it. And you never want to run a marathon with something new on race day. So I either risk it with every 2 miles until mile 18 or I take my belt. Tough choice.

Another thing that will be different with this marathon as opposed to my first, my family was along the course at 3 different spots after the start line; Mile 3, Mile 13.1 and Mile 14. This race, I only have a friend going and he'll see me at the start and maybe at the start again as I pass it again, which I think is around Mile 5.75. Then I won't have any people for me again along the course until the finish line. Apparently there are ways for spectators to get around using the MetroLink and the info is all in the Spectator Guide, available in PDF on the website but I don't know how accessible it will be. There's a stop at Forest Park but I don't have the map of St. Louis Metro compared to the St. Louis Marathon course to see how it's laid out.

Update: What was nice with the Memphis Marathon, is they offered text messaging updates for spectators to follow their runner. This marathon doesn't offer it (even though it's a lot LOT bigger). So since I have a Twitter, I signed up for TwitterFone. TwitterFone will transcribe voice into text and post it to Twitter for me and will include a link to the audio. So I will hopefully take my phone with me, phone in and let you know when I reach certain points in the race. I hope it works out. Follow me on Twitter or just check in on my Twitter webpage to follow my updates.

Also, won't have anyone running with me to help me along at a few parts like I did in the first marathon. So I'll sign up with a Pace Group and will stick very close to the Pacer. Since I don't plan on seeing anyone along the course, I won't be stopping to talk & take pictures with my family either so I won't be pausing and using up my time. The 9:44 min/mi, 4:15 marathon goal time is led by Ben, from Chicago, age 28. NICE! Sounds like a perfect match for me! I wish I was that speed. I would stick VERY CLOSE with him! ;-) Unfortunately, I think I'll go with Charles, age 51 for the 10:18 min/mi 4:30 marathon goal. :-(

The race starts at 7am so I should hopefully be done well before noon! A week before the race, the weather forecast is 62*F and isolate thunderstorms. But it's a week out, I'm not too worried about the weather yet.

So there ya have it. An update the course/race.

They also sent out an email a few weeks ago with clothes that you can buy at the Expo (besides your free shirt). I'm not really digging any of the selections; either for Men or Women. The Men's shirt is cool with the Arch but I don't like how the Women shirts says Family Fitness Weekend but the other option is just horrid. Here are a few that have an OK by me:

Categories: Go St. Louis Marathon, Google Maps, pictures

8 miles in Bluford

This time around my running around Bluford wasn't that bad! I only had 8 miles to go around the town. And I manage to find it pretty well. I of course mapped it out the night before on mapmyrun.com.

I decided to run to Bluford Lake to take pictures down there. It got me another .5 mile of the run or so. While running up to my former 7th grade teacher's place, I saw someone pull out in their SUV but I couldn't catch up to them. She's now on Facebook so we got back in touch that way. Would be nice to talk to her for a while. But come to find out it was her husband, Dale, (former superintendent of Bluford Schools) who went down to the Ruitarn Building across from the Grade School. He said hello and asked if I was training for a marathon. I told him I was, for St. Louis the next weekend. He said that his brother's (Donnie, who taught Driver's Education classes to both my MOTHER and I!!!) son & his wife were running some marathon this weekend. I told him it was probably the Illinois Marathon in Champaign. He said that his brother & his wife headed up there to watch the kids while "Mom & Dad" ran in the marathon. I told him to say hello to Kathie, his wife and went on my merry way.

Running over to Markham City again, I passed some horses and one of them was laying down. Usually horses don't lay down, even to sleep (they only sleep 4 hours a day). They are flight animals so they need to stay on their feet. I thought maybe it was hurt because he kept looking behind him at his hind foot. Then on my way back, passed him again and this time the horse was completely lying down in the sun. I stopped at the gate and waited to see if I could see the chest rise but couldn't. So then I called out and he turned to look at me. The pony in the enclosure across the pasture did the same thing. Eventually the horse got up and walked over to me at the gate without a limp so now I feel bad because I got him up from his wonderful slumber in the sun! But we got to chill for a little while and I petted him and blew in his nose. Then again on my merry way.

I got back home and looked at my watch and I finished 8 miles in 1:14! That was a nice pace. Maybe after my marathon, I should start doing more half marathons and work on getting my pace under 2 hours. That would be pretty sweet! We'll see how this one goes on Sunday.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 518 ft Location: Bluford, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/11/09 Up/Downhill: [+328/-328] Time: 09:31 AM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 50 F temp; 53% humidity 50 F heat index; winds N 8 Performance Distance: 8.00 miles Time: 1:14:30 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 19 /mi Heart Rate: 173 bpm (Avg) Calories: 850 184 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 42 -0' 37 6.9 +0.4 161 -13 ft 2 9' 18 -0' 01 6.5 +0.0 173 -6 ft 3 9' 28 +0' 09 6.3 -0.1 177 +26 ft 4 9' 53 +0' 34 6.1 -0.4 175 0 ft 5 9' 36 +0' 17 6.2 -0.2 174 +10 ft 6 9' 19 +0' 00 6.4 -0.0 176 -10 ft 7 9' 28 +0' 09 6.3 -0.1 173 -19 ft end 9' 00 -0' 19 6.7 +0.2 178 +13 ft Versus average of 9' 19 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 8 miles, Bluford

On the Up and Up

Gee, if I didn't know better, I'd say that Runner's World is hurtin' for subscriptions.

Last month's issue was supposed to be my last. They sent it to me with an envelope stating that this will be my last issue. They've been sending me renew notices since the beginning of this year. I knew I wasn't going to subscribe with them since going through Amazon is a lot cheaper (2 years for $23 as opposed to 1 year for $22). So after last month's issue, I went ahead and paid through Amazon, even though I knew that I wasn't going to get this month's issue (6-8 weeks for delivery). Well, what did I receive today? Why May's issue from Runner's World with another envelope saying that is this going to be my last issue. I'm a little confused now. But well, at least I shouldn't skip a month!

Today I decided to do hills again on the treamill using the awesome On the Up and Up treadmill plan. Love that it's only a mintue an incline! After that, which I accomplished in 2.83 miles, I ran a mile at 2% incline at 9:40 min/mi since that is what I'll be encountering right after halfway in St. Louis Marathon and then a ran .77 miles at 1% incline at 10 min/mi. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good!!

But someone please take away my Easter candy!! I've been eating it and I'm getting soft!!!! :-D

Categories: on the up and up, Runner's World

Taper time

Check out this blog post first about the taper paranoia. It's has a list of things to deal with during taper.

The taper binge is starting though. I cannot stop eating. It started last week on Thursday, I think. Friday I just ate so much. Insane. Today was the same way but luckily, I was a little busy at work so it helped me. When I'm in my office I just want to eat. Fortunately, I have nothing but cereal bars in my drawer and they're not good after 10am. I try drinking water to calm it but I just want something to chew on. My gum has is now out. Must buy some more. Also, I've been craving pop lately. I only have less than a week left and it's the first sign of craving pop. Which is good! But everytime I hear a pop can pssst open or see it in a bottle or fountain drink I want a taste of it!!!

Some would say that the taper pain paranoia is starting but I really do think that I'm a little injured thanks to my AWESOME "non-step back; add 2 miles to every long run" training plan!! Yea! But my IT Band flared its ugly head on my run with Erin. I also felt some knee pain a little while after the IT Band pain. I managed to run through it but I did notice that my form got sloppy. Tonight, I ran for a measly three miles and my quads are sore. But I can't tell if they're injury sore or if they're muscle sore. They kinda feel muscle sore, but um, it's not like I never used them or something. Maybe it was because I ran at 2% incline for the last .83 miles and 1% inclines for the other miles? I know I keep saying this but I need to set up a massage this week!!

I'm drafting up a big post of my Go! St. Louis Marathon course & info. That'll come later on in the week, if not on Sunday.

Categories: taper

Running with a friend

Our Garmin 405's with the finish time.

Saturday morning had me getting up and running as usual But this time it was different. I was running with a friend! Erin lives in a suburb of Chicago and since we were both tapering, we figured this would be a great time for a run today. She is tapering for her first half marathon at the Illinois Marathon/Half Marathon event in Champaign-Urbana.

She does her long runs on a great urban trail that starts right across from Brookfield Zoo. I was so excited to go even close to there since I've never been to Brookfield Zoo before. We started running and it was great. We talked constantly for up to about 4 miles and then we got a little quiet but we would talk every now and then. Then we hit the turn around, ate some Sports Beans (I bought some for her).

The way back we had a wind coming towards us but it felt nice since the sun was shiny and getting us a bit warm. I had problems with my Gatorade bottle lid, in that I picked the wrong lid for the wrong bottle. So when I went to pull up the opening, the whole lid came off!! Spilled half of my Gatorade all over the path. But had enough to pull me through. I have to remember that when I eat some energy gels/beans/shot bloks on the run, I must bring water with me, not Gatorade.

What was so great about her trail is that it was busy. Well, not like busy busy but there were people on it!!! Dog walkers, walkers (and in particular a walker that did not know which side of the lined path to be on!), runners, bikers and really fast bikers. I waved at all who passed by us and I got a majority of waves or nods back at me. So happy!!! I also let the walkers know that were passing AND we were notified by the bikers that they were going to pass us. That was just great. That never happens to me, either here in DeKalb or in St. Louis. I even let one runner know who had earbuds in his ears that there was a biker behind him. He just thought I was waving at him though. I think I like running with more people on it. Doesn't seem so lonely that way!

After the run, we came back, got cleaned up and went shopping! We hit up Sports Authority and looked for Sports Beans for Erin and Shot Bloks for me. We also looked for a visor for Erin, just in case it rains for her race. I also picked up a rain jacket for biking. Totally didn't have one last year.

Came back to Erin's house and she made ravioli casserole with spinach. YUM! After that we broke open the wine and watched Spirit of the Marathon. So great! I haven't seen it since I saw it in the movie theatre Nov 2007. I still got moved at places. We also got to see the deleted scenes.

After that we hung out for a while, helped Erin write a list of items to bring & remember (like turning off the auto-pause on her Garmin). She's heading on down on Thursday night, the Expo is on Friday (we have off since it's Good Friday -- yay university educational system!) and the race is on Saturday at 8am!

Just a few pictures below. This is the link for the whole album.

A prairie portion of the path right at the beginning of the path.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 623 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 04/04/09 Up/Downhill: [+203/-206] Time: 10:06 AM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 46 F temp; 39% humidity 46 F heat index; winds Vrbl 6 Performance Distance: 10.03 miles Time: 1:36:50 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 39 /mi Heart Rate: 178 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1072 190 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 45 +0' 06 6.2 -0.1 159 -6 ft 2 9' 50 +0' 11 6.1 -0.1 172 +9 ft 3 9' 37 -0' 02 6.2 +0.0 180 +10 ft 4 10' 08 +0' 29 5.9 -0.3 180 -7 ft 5 9' 34 -0' 05 6.3 +0.1 181 +3 ft 6 9' 29 -0' 10 6.3 +0.1 178 -3 ft 7 9' 31 -0' 08 6.3 +0.1 183 +3 ft 8 9' 44 +0' 05 6.2 -0.1 182 -7 ft 9 9' 56 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 182 -9 ft end 9' 24 -0' 15 6.4 +0.2 184 +3 ft Versus average of 9' 39 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 10 miles, friends, pictures, taper

A little bit of everything

I stopped Shredding. I decided that after doing 2 days of butt kicks and then hearing my right knee cracking and popping while doing them, that's not a good thing. As kilax said they would, my quads started to hurt after the 2nd day. I didn't do it on Wednesday morning since I knew I had the 7 mile run scheduled. And I decided this morning (while struggling to get out of bed) that I'll start it after my marathon on the 19th.

I'm thinking of getting one of these for my first marathon.
My medals are hanging around the spare bedroom closet doorknob, next to the cat litter boxes. Not exactly in a spot worthy of medals. I'm thinking of getting this one, to hang on the wall, to show off my first marathon. Not that the time is great or that it's a good photo (my thigh fat is doing a weird wiggle thing), but just to have it hanging on my wall. What do you guys think? Good idea or waste of money?

I'm buying a lot of random things for my Garmin & bike. Cool stuff. Stuff that I don't need. Like a carrying case for my Garmin. And a seat pack for my bike. I did buy 2 white water bottle cages that I did need. But I also bought a blue cycling computer for way too much money when I could have bought a cheap generic one. I'm looking at a Forerunner Bicycle Mount Kit. But I'm not sure I would need that when I could just wear it right?? Gotta get new gloves too. Since I have white handlebars and my gloves are black, I know that they're gonna rub off and leave black marks.

Oh did you see that 2 new versions of Garmin Forerunner were released? (Yes, that's ME talked about in the article!!!!) One that will do heart-rate calorie count (remember when I thought mine would do that??) and the other that is water resistant for those triathletes out there (tempting!!). The 405CX comes in a pretty blue colour too! But it automatically comes with a heart-rate monitor so the price is a lot more than what I paid. Oh and it also comes with options for different wristbands for smaller wrists! How heavenly would that be?!
I also bought a Road ID. Well, a replacement for my current one. I put the same numbers on it; Dad (who changed his number), Brother (who also changed his number) and Work (which also changed) since the last one I bought. I changed my Motto tagline too. Last one was "Keep On Keeping On!" Which I thought was pretty neat. This time I put on "Run & Win Your Own Race." Talk about motivation and keeping it real. If you would like to buy a Road ID, here's a $1 off coupon: ThanksLindsay473840. Can be used 20 times in the next 30 days.

So Target, Wal*Mart, MC Sports, even Chilton's Sporting Goods (a local hometown store) all didn't carry my Clif Shot Bloks. I will be heading to Rockford tomorrow after work then. And will be buying many packages. They only carry the Black Cherry & Cran-Raz (which I tried and couldn't handle the taste. I also have some Cranberry Raspberry juice but don't like it.) Maybe they'll have some other flavours.

Categories: garmin, running accessories, Shred, St. Jude Marathon

Ahhh, PEOPLE!!!

Tonight I attended a planning meeting for the NITRO 10k/5k race that we're putting on at the end of May. I'm getting really excited about it! I signed up to run it but will also volunteer for the after crew. It's going to be such a fun race! A few of us stayed after to talk and it was soooo much fun to talk to people about running and training and races and experiences. I don't have anyone to talk with those things with (which is probably why I blog so damn much) and it was nice to have people that know what I'm talking about. Sure, people ask me about my running but when I tell them I ran 16 miles at a 10 min/mi pace, they don't understand how cool that is and they say that I'm crazy. That's NOT exactly the support I need to hear, ya know?

On to running: I ran 7.1 miles today. I don't understand why but Bones In Motion is no longer letting me publish to my blog. I wrote them an email so hopefully they'll get back go me. I didn't touch the settings with anything so I don't know what happened. Anyway, it was a very lovely day -- Except for the wind. Blah. I was actually nervous about it but I pysched myself up by saying today is just a fun run, going out there to enjoy the day and the springtime and not caring about time. The wind was pretty strong like 23 mph or so and coming from the south & west. I head south & then west first off. So great. I wore 2 layers on top & 2 layers on bottom. I also forgot my headphones and I didn't even notice it until I reached my starting point after a few minutes walk. I thought to myself well, this is going to be a boring run.

My splits were really fast for the first 3 miles. Then at 3 miles, I headed out of the woods and south so I knew then that my times were going to slow down and sure enough they did. Then into the park where it was a little more woods and along Kishwaukee River where it was flooded! Wow! It receded a bit so I didn't have to worry about slushing through too much though there was a place where the water was on the path and it was pretty deep.

Once I turned around and headed back north though, it seriously felt as if the wind had died. Like it wasn't going anymore. But of course that's just it was at my back and I didn't feel it against my face anymore. I also heated up a bit. I had to pull up my sleeves of both my shirts. Should have worn a short sleeve under my jacket. Along the path back, I heard a rustle in the woods. I looked over and I see deer again! Really REALLY close to the path! Awesome! If I had my headphones on I never would have heard them! So I stopped and got a few good pictures. One of them had a mark, missing fur, on her ribcage behind her left shoulder. Don't know what that was all about. I finished up the run pretty strong. I looked down at my Garmin and at one point it say my pace was a 12 minute mile. So something was wrong with that. But all together 7.1 miles in 1:06.34 for a 9:22 min/mi pace. Pretty happy with that.

Picture time!!! (click to see them bigger)

Whoops, had to run around that!

Kishwaukee River flooded

A little water on the path

I can't remember the name of this place but just noticed today that it closed!

More water on path inside Hopkins Park

Kishwaukee River flooded even more!!!

This puddle was pretty deep and I hate running up that hill

Role players?? I don't know I see them every Wednesday I run down this path though

Little bitty bit of snow left over!

This is the deer that has the bad spot.

He's ready for Easter this time!

Stats:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 04/01/09 Up/Downhill: [+269/-265] Time: 04:43 PM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0   Weather: Fair and Breezy   50 F temp; 37% humidity   50 F heat index; winds SW 23 G 28 Performance Distance: 7.10 miles Time: 1:06:35 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 23 /mi Heart Rate: 175 bpm (Avg) Calories: 757 184 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 58 -0' 25 6.7 +0.3 159 +23 ft 2 8' 59 -0' 24 6.7 +0.3 175 -13 ft 3 9' 16 -0' 07 6.5 +0.1 178 +23 ft 4 9' 26 +0' 03 6.4 -0.0 179 -33 ft 5 9' 49 +0' 26 6.1 -0.3 178 -7 ft 6 9' 50 +0' 27 6.1 -0.3 179 +40 ft 7 9' 34 +0' 11 6.3 -0.1 177 -20 ft end 6' 40 -2' 43 9.0 +2.6 180 -9 ft Versus average of 9' 23 min/mile

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Categories: 7 miles, NITRO, pictures