W.O.W.

RUN: 50 min. // TEMPO RUN =5MIN W/U + 40 min. 12:00 per mile + 5 MIN. C/D

Wickedly Outstanding Workout!!!! It was the perfect day. Everything clicked. I don't know where it came from or if a run will ever feel this good again. By most standards, I was still a slow runner. I felt though like I could lead the pack and win a race. It wasn't though a race that I won tonight but I won a huge gain in confidence.

I'm packing tonight to fly tomorrow to Cleveland. I'm looking forward to my long run in Metroparks. Then Saturday night my MIL will go to church and dinner to celebrate her future living near us in Illinois. Sunday morning we will drive her car back. Tough day for her leaving Ohio.

Please remember Juls(Keeping Pace) in your prayers. She recently lost her husband Tom.
Waddling at a 12:00/min. pace..............

MOST EXCELLENT GOOD NEWS

BTN: RUN 20 MIN.

Wonderful news today !!!

The MD's office called with the results of the biopsy on my arm. NOT MELANOMA!!!! Yeah! It was the news that I have been awaiting anxiously. I called my hubby immediately and told him he was stuck with me for longer. What a relief.

I went to the gym to run because of the thunderstorms outside tonight. It was amazing that it was over 70 degrees. My legs were tired tongiht aand I cut it short at 20 min. (Better than nothing) I am flying to Cleveland Friday night and plan to do my long run in the metroparks on Saturday morning. I will be packing my MIL up for her move here and driving her car back on Sunday.

Off the track- American Idol. I was shocked at the bottom 2 and then who was sent home.

Waddling while jumping up and down...

IN THE LOOP

MON : ELLITICAL -30 min.
TUE : SPIN - 60 MIN / AVE HR = 148 / MAX HR 172

Recently at work , we changed our operating system programming. One of the favorite sayings of our trainer was that if you don't do things right you get caught "in the loop". Tonigh in spin we did that LOOP 3 times. It had a huge uphill at the start.(Just what I wanted after Sunday) . It was followed by a downhill into a flat with speed. Then a stairstep uphill sitting and standing. Each loop lasted about 15 min. It was a workout that was so good because I could imagine it translating to an outdoor ride.

My spin instructor also ran the half on Sunday. I felt better when she also said it was a tough course and the hill from 9-10 was an SOB. I was suprised that I wasn't sore just felt like I had a good workout.

Waddling to catch up on laundry.......

MARCH MADNESS HALF MARATHON

RUN : 13.1 // 2:56:20 / AVE PACE=13:26 / 4R:1W

The alarm went off at 4am. DD and I planned to leave my house around 5. It was cold and frosty out when I warmed up the car. I printed out the map on mapquest. As we got closer, we got a little off track -not our fault of course -damn directions. We stopped at a gas station to clarify where we were. I was putting gas in the car while DD ran inside. The attendant immediately thru up her hands signalling she was no help. So DD asked the other person in the store who was apparently still trying to get home after celebrating St. Pat's Day. No help. We were so far ahead of schedule we took our chances. At 630, we got there with plenty of time to spare.As we pulled in to park, we noticed the temperature was only 20.

We went into the HS gym and picked up my packet. As we waited for the race to begin, I began realizing how far that I was out of my league. These were front and middle pack runners. No back of the packers like me. I ran into IRON SNOOPY and Moose. (They looked awesome in matching tights). They are training for Ironman Louisville so fit this race into their training schedule. We hit the Port-a-Pots and it was time to line up. I knew I was in the wrong race when the pace mile markers to line up ended at 9 min/mile. I was shooting for a 13:40 pace.

The course was considered to be a 8 out of 10 with 10 being the hardest. I heard there were a few challenging hills. The course of the Pig has hills so I thought that was a good thing. The first 3 miles cruised by with 12:43,12:59, 12:46 on the watch. When getting ready to go down a rather large downhill we realized the 10 mile marker was at the top of the hill. Damn- we'll have to go back up it. Now we came to the challenging part. The next miles were 13:22,13:07, 13:50,13:45 and 13:53. I felt comfortable but with not much more to give. DD is a faster runner but hung with me for support. She looked so smooth and comfortable. In this section of the course we saw a most unusual sight. The woman in front of us with a red ball hat with wings had pulled over to the bushes but was for some reason trying to poop in a bag. That's a first. Up ahead, I could see a man with orange shorts. I could not let him or the lady running behind him beat me. No reason why just because. Next miles were mainly up with that large hill at 10. Splits were 13:47,13:45, then 11:46 to the finish. Thanks DD for all your support-I couldn't have done it without you.

The course elevation from my Garmin

I was happy with how I did. I hoped to finish in under 3 hours . I started even after being so intimidated at the beginning. I will never do this race again though. There is no back of the pack support. At one point we were running in a neighborhood and thought we had lost the race. No cones, arrows or other people. The times were incredible. DD and I had a great long run and it was enjoyable.Our celebration lunch that we discussed often during the run was at California Pizza kitchen. It was so worth it. The wild mushroom pizza was great.

Waddling with sore legs.........

UPDATING WITH THANKS

Last week-end , after my long run, my arm was sore. I look and noticed that a mole on my arm had turned completely black. My career in the cancer field set off an alarm in my head that this was not a good thing. Of course the first thing I did was search on the web for info and photos. My self-diagnosis was a melanoma. On Monday morning, I immediately showed the oncologist that I work with my arm. She said usually when people ask her to look at something that it is usually nothing but in my case I should call a dermatologist immediately. I then got an appointment for Tuesday.

My husband took off Tuesday afternoon to go with me. The MD looked and said it looks suspicious and we should biopsy it. She called the RN into the room and did a punch biopsy and put 2 stitches in my arm. The results will be back in 7-10 days. Now we wait.

For me, it was hard to focus and concentrate all week. I've had several others things happening this week. But my hubby has been a blessing and support. I think everything is ok and if not very early.

My running buddy, DD, has offered to go with me to the half tomorrow and run with me. What a support she is. She didn't train for this or sign up but she's a great friend. Mentally , she knows where I am at more than anyone.

Thanks to all of you for your best wishes and support.

Waddling along...........

UNDER THE WEATHER

ZERO

I currently have some things going on personally and with my health that I will be off the blog for a few days. Hope to be able to run Sunday's half.


Waddling extra slow...........

SCOOPIN' POOP

BIKE: ROAD BIKE : 30 MIN./ AVE.SPEED= 13.7MPH

A sure sign of spring at my house is scoopin' poop. Dog poop that is. With 3 dogs, it does seem to pile up quickly. Because of the warm weather all of the snow has melted and it was time. I wonder if 60 minutes of scoopin' counts as cross-training.

The other sign of spring is when I get Silver out and take her for a ride. It was perfect out. At first I was a little nervous to clip in and go. I have fallen over a few times. But it felt great and I loved it.

Waddling to clean up Silver for Spring.......