Fridaaaaaaaaay!

Okay, I've been a bad blogger. But I'm still here.

I've had a pretty nice week. No complaints from the race, but my massage therapist said I was kind of tight. You know I'm a crappy stretcher.

I've lifted weights twice this week and run twice. Today I am enjoying my off day. Finally plotted an 11.5ish run for this weekend at the beach... Very flat, which is probably not good preparation for Atlanta, but I might come up with a new one before I actually go out that incorporates some bridges (we don't have hills here!)



There has been a big push to play tennis lately... I think Billy, Mike, Chris, and I were inspired by the Sampras/Martin match we went to. Don't know if that will be my cross training for this weekend but I definitely plan on making it to the JCA to play on Thursday for Ladies' Night.

In very good news, my skinny jeans fit! HOORAY! Although I told one of my girlfriends I think they fit from me trying them on so much and stretching them out! But it's still a nice little victory.

I Don't Think We're in Jacksonville Anymore, Toto

I've been slacking. I sawwy.

The Gate River Run... was like running in a wind tunnel. Or a hurricane. Remind me not to go out for Jim Cantore's job anytime soon - how does he keep that hat on his bald little head in the wind? I could barely stand up, especially on the bridges. I couldn't even run *down* them. That really drove me crazy! But when I did run, I felt great, which is something I haven't always been able to say in a race (especially the GRR!) And after, I wasn't comatose for two straight days... I was actually out at the bar doing shots! Go me! Goes to show that training pays off (and shots make a nice reward).

I came in 0:01:10 under my previous time. I blame the wind for about 5 minutes at least, but I feel pretty fortunate not to totally sack out after.

If you want to read a real Gate River Run post (or two!), check out my husband's blog, The Starting Gun

Encouraging or Not?

Encouraging: My Runner's World Quote of the Day

"Running is a big question mark that's out there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher


Not Encouraging:

Ready to Run

Okay, so according to my doctor, I do, in fact, have laryngitis. All the nasty gunk from my sinuses is coating my vocal cords. When my throat gets dry, I start this beautiful hacking cough that doesn't go away until some of that gunk dislodges from my vocal cords. It might take two or three good coughs or four or five minutes of coughing. So yesterday, my boss decides the hacking is enough for him and has me banished to the house. This is where I mention that I gave up TV for Lent. I've done a lot of laundry and house cleaning as I have guests this weekend, but it's been very quiet around here. So I clean up and nap and watch my favorite movie yesterday. I feel like staying home helped me (and, to be honest, work is kind of slow right now...) so I called in sick today. I had a major coughing fit this morning and took some cough syrup with some codeine in it (GREAT stuff, knocks me on my butt!) and slept until 3! I haven't slept like that since college! Anyway, my husband took the last frozen dinner, so I indulged my sick self in a Quarter Pounder w/cheese value meal (to keep the antibiotic down, naturally) and I'm listening to my laundry. I am going out tonight (I won tickets on the radio to see Pete Sampras and Todd Martin play) but that's not what I am most looking forward to this weekend...

The doc cleared me to run. SWEET! I didn't have a fabulous showing in my first Gate River Run, so I am looking to do better (even if I am sick). Not to mention this cabin fever is killing me!

Putting The "R" In R.I.C.E

I have always considered myself a chronic person, always switched on, a habit, vexing at times. I do what I want to do, even when I probably shouldn't do it. Impulsive might not even cover it, it's more like stubborn or hard headed. My dad would give me advice in college and he'd usually end it with, "But you're going to do what you want to do and not listen to me." Dad was usually right. It didn't always come back to bite me, but there are many times I wish I had backed down when instead I just kept right on going.

The same is true for my running. And while tenacity is admirable in a runner, blind stubbornness is not. Especially when it comes to sickness and injury. I preach R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) to anyone I run with who even remotely says they have an ache. I just can't take my own advice. My ankle injury last fall is a prime example - It wasn't even an ankle injury to begin with. It was a calf injury from a 5k... then I ran my first half marathon on it the next day... and two days later, I couldn't even make it through a lap at the park. Instead of taking it easy, hitting the ice pack, and trying to wait it out, I kept pushing. After my pitiful run at the park, I was trying to stretch it (here's where looking up calf stretches on the internet would have come in handy), turned it wrong, added some weight to that leg, and *WHAM* a small amount of calf pain becomes a pop in my ankle and I'm chilling out for 5 weeks.

So here I am with a sinus infection to beat the band. I skipped running today because from the throat up I'm worthless. Seeing as this is a pretty integral body part in breathing, I'm probably better off this way. Not to mention there is the possibility of making this worse, getting sicker, and missing the Gate River Run on Saturday. I can't imagine that.

So R... rest. Boring but necessary.

Later Gater

Mike has come up with a list of all of the folks we (he) knows running the Gate River Run and how we'll finish. So, without further ado:

1. Gump*
2. Brian
3. Mike
4. Bill
5. Murnin
6. Darcey
7. Megan
8. Me
9. Soupal
10. Our boss
11. Billy (who is walking it... though you might beat our boss).

We'll see how this ends up. However, I was warned by my boss that I can't be sick so that I can run. I wonder if he'd like to make a friendly donut wager on this one...

*Some names edited to protect the guilty.

Can You Handle A Challenge?

Darcey, dahling, this one's for you.

Nike+ has a big thing on Resolutions this year. They even have a shirt - If I don't (BLANK) This Year, Then I Will (BLANK). I was supposed to run my first marathon last month, but due to an ankle injury, a cold, and a big fat pause in training, I missed it. That has made me all the more determined to do it this year - December in Vegas, baby! And it's going to be so awesome running down the strip!

That said, I am up for a little challenge. If I don't run my first marathon this year (barring injury, sickness, or no fault of my own), then I will... What? I thought about cutting my hair (that was my first thought but Billy vetoed that). He suggested I have to perform 3 random dares, but I want something more concrete. I could buy his next tattoo. I could run every race in 2009 dressed as a pirate (ooo, I'd be famous! The Jacksonville Pirate Runner Girl!). I could...

Come on, help me out here!

Darcey, are you in?!?

Weight A Minute

I have always liked to weight lift. Blame it on my 9th and 10th grade Girls' Weight Training classes: we'd do half a class of aerobics (to a tape, which is funny looking back on it!) and the other half was weights. I'll be honest here - they taught us more about how to do it than they did *why* we were doing it, what groups we were working, and how that would impact us in other physical endeavors (outside of a 80's Abs of Steel video). This is something I very much wish we had learned in school.

Yesterday I did my weight lifting at the good ol' JCA. I get my workouts from Weight Training for Runners, and I am currently doing the in-season training (just to get back up to speed on how to lift again, as it's been awhile.) Yesterday looked a little something like this:

* 30 min on the treadmill working on walking inclines
* Dumbell rows: 3 sets x 20 reps x 5 lbs
* Tricep kickbacks: 3 sets x 20 reps x 4 lbs
* Dumbell bench press: 3 sets x 20 reps x 7.5 lbs
* Lunges: 3 sets x 10 reps x 4 lbs (my quad was hurting, which was ODD for me)
* Leg press: 3 sets x 20 reps x 40 lbs
* Calf raises: 2 sets x 20 reps (it recommended a "calf raise machine" - what the heck is that?)
* 20 crunches (the ab cruncher machine thingie is a cruel mistress).

I am only doing two days a week at this point... I want to ease back into it now that I am at the end of my season, so that when I start my off season training in April I can do 3 days a week of lifting (and a new core training class I am super psyched about!)

Anyone else weight lift out there? Or are you like I usually am and consider "cross-training" to be synonymous with "12 ounce curls" only?

More bloggy bloggy, less talky talky

I have laryngitis. Most people who know me would consider this a good thing. Anyway, Shawnee tagged me with this...

Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 15 weird, random things, facts, habits, or goals about yourself.

At the end choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don't forget to leave them a comment (you're it) and to read your blog.

You can't tag the person who tagged you. Since you can't tag me back, let me know when you've posted your blog so I can see your answers.

1. I have 5 sets of grandparents. Beat THAT!

2. I'm a mutant... my nose is double jointed. Of course, you'd have to elbow me in the nose to find out, and at that point I might try to kill you. So you might have to trust me on that.

3. I had seven different majors in college. The average college student has 5. I am "above average"

4. I wrote the best paper in college... on Playboy. It was about how something crossed two subcultures (mine was male and female). The title, "Playboy: Not Just Entertainment For Men"

5. The best meal I cook is crawfish etoufee and rosemary red potatoes.

6. I once had a priest make fun of me for having laryngitis.

7. I have taken tap, jazz, and ballet. I for the life of me cannot dance.

8. My favorite animal is an elephant. That's odd because my college's rival is an elephant.

9. About once every six months I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

10. I can play the tenor saxophone.

11. I have three holes in one ear and two in the other. Not counting the ones I hear out of.

12. I could live off sushi. In fact, I ate pretty much nothing but sushi on my honeymoon. After two weeks of that, I came back east and forgot how to eat with a fork.

13. I have sang in choirs from the time I was 5 until I was 18.

14. I can deer hunt. I'm a fantastic shot.

15. I used to play pool with cops. I am a horrible pool player. I used to buy them shots to make them worse.

Instead of trying to bait certain folks into posting this, I'm going to open it up to my blog friends (Darcey, Billy) and my MySpace friends (Mike, Amanda, Paul)

Running Recap - 7mi

I knew not to expect much because I had a cold, and not much is about what I got. We started in the parking lot at Seventh South, headed north. Through the Jax Beach bar area, down to the Beaches Town Center, up through Atlantic Beach for a nice Real Estate Run and back. Mike did a lot better than I did - my endurance today was just totally shot. I forgot how much Benadryl dries you out - I went through my first 24 oz of water before the halfway point! I didn't make it all the way back to the car - Mike was way ahead of me - but when he came back for me, I checked the ol'iPod and what do you know? It said 7.12 miles. Which is okay with me.

Also, massive props to Darcey, who did her first 10k today in 1:09:46!