Catch-up days!

Sunday was a cross-training day.  My cross-training so far seems to consist of life.  I had a busy day on Sunday, work, driving Selena to Camp Lakewood, and going out for Birthday celebrations and moms' night out with some of my friends.  Monday was the ever-popular rest day.  Tuesday morning, I got up early, did my work and ran 3.25 (though I was scheduled for 3) at Forest Park.  I enjoyed the frogs croaking, the ducks bobbing, and seeing several people whom I see frequently walking and running.  I hustled it hard today, because, as is often the case, I had to hurry home to get the kids lunches packed and to camp on time!  With several clients out of town, and everyone's gardens and plants needing to be watered, work is taking even longer than usual!  My average speed was 11:20, and my max speed was 8:40.  I worked on my barefoot form when I was running on the boardwalk and footbridge, toe running on the boardwalk, practicing fast foot turnover, and single-tracking on the footbridge.  It was hot.  about 87 F.  They keep saying it's going to rain, but the ubiquitous "they" appear to be liars!

 I did the upper-body weight circuit at the Y, since I was there anyway, dropping the kids at camp.  I always enjoy my Y time.  Not sure why it's so satisfying, but everyone is always so nice and friendly, and I feel so much better after I work out.

Came home and weeded yard and garden, did some work with Merlin, adding a cue to 2o2o, and working a little bit on stays and left turns.  Made lovely Coconut Curry Shrimp and Green Beans for supper, with basmati rice.  The kids liked it, even after telling me they don't like curry, so it was a hit.
Tomorrow morning, 6 miles!  I'm sure it will be another beautiful, if HOT, day!

Saturday 12 miles? Well, almost...

Well.  Today was supposed to be a 12 mile run.  It was unbelievably hot and a red air quality day.  Jacob came with me to do some work and then hit Forest Park to run.  We had run about 6.25 miles, when I got a text message from Selena, asking me to come home because the little kids were fighting, screaming and crying, and kicking each other, and wouldn't stop.  Sigh.  We happened to be close to the parking lot, so we drove home.  Everyone was fine when we got there.  Selena was apologetic, and said, "Do you want to go finish your other 6 miles?"  Well, not really.  So I made scrambled eggs with black beans, avocado and salsa for everyone, then we went back out, with the stroller, to Tower Grove to do the last 6 miles.  At noon.  We. Are. Idiots.  Hottest weather ever, and we ran in it.  Why we do these things, I don't know.  We have nothing to prove.  We're old and slow.  We could've waited until it got dark, and somewhat cooler.  But, we did finish 5 miles.  So we finished, miserably, sweaty and overheated, probably about 11.25 miles, which is going to have to be good enough for today!  Some days, you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.  Today, we were hot hors d'oeuvres...

Friday, REST day.

Friday, along with being a rest day, is the day my sweetie got home from his 2 week trip to the parents' farm!  I'm so happy to see him, and I took rest day to the limit.  I did no real physical activity, lounged around with the kids, cancelled a walk and train job because the pavement is too hot for dog paws (and MY paws!), and tonight we're doing Family Movie Night.  What a great rest day!

Thursday Morning. A good, barefootin' day!

Today was a good day for a nice run.  We're still under an extreme heat warning, and yellow air quality, but around 6:30, it was a breezy 87 degrees. Which, considering our recent daily weather, was a nice break.  I ran around Forest Park, the Grand Basin, where I could see the fountains, and the Art Museum at the top of the hill, then through the restoration project of River Des Peres, around the shore of the lake and past the Boathouse.  At about the halfway point, I took off my Merrell's and ran in my actual naked footedness!  Barefoot running is so much more satisfying than wearing shoes, even barefoot shoes.  I love the feel of the grass, asphalt, dirt and gravel on the soles of my feet.  I can feel the energy coming up through the earth, up through my feet and legs, and spreading out through my body, like a wave of excitement.

I learned a couple of new things, and re-learned a couple of things I already knew.  Relearning is something that happens to me often, recently.  New things I learned, Merrell Pace Gloves, while comfy, and great on most surfaces, even large river stones, but there are two things they're not good at doing.
1. keeping out gravel and general junk, I'm going to have to go to dirtygirl.com and get a nice new pair of gaiters to wear with them, which seems ridiculous, but I hope will work.
2. NOT good on slippery, wet, algae covered rocks!  Watch yourself, or you'll end up in the drink!  I didn't but only by a lucky leap.

They are good at playing "Old Lady Parkour", though!  I like to bounce and leap off the railings and benches around the Grand Basin, I'm not exactly hardcore, but it's a nice proprioreceptive workout, which is important, and apparently more so as one ages.

I re-learned what it feels like to be 15 pounds lighter.  I don't want those 15 back, by the way!  Being lighter really affects the quality of my running, and allows me to be much faster, without a lot of effort.
I re-learned that faster foot turnover creates better forefoot striking motion, and really gets you moving, without straining.
I re-learned that it's bad to try to cross the metal suspension bridge in truly bare feet, especially when it's really hot, and a fast moving bike is coming from the other side!
I re-learned why I like to run off the path, out of the box, and down by the waterside.  Lovely!

I was scheduled for a 3 miler today, but I ran 3.22.   It could have been a lot more, if I didn't have so many other things calling for my time!
                                

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Monday was a rest day.  I actually rested.  Sort of.
Tuesday, I got up and went to work, then went to Forest Park to do my 3 miles in the 89 degree heat and yellow air quality day.  I got about halfway done, around 15 minutes into it, and I got a text message from Selena, saying that Aurora has really bad diarrhea, and can I hurry home.  So I looped back to the car and left.  Aurora is fine, now.  She ate way too much junk food the night before.  Problem solved.  Short run, though.  Glad that I got that extra mile and change in on Saturday...
Wednesday morning, up early and to work, and out to Forest Park when it was a breezy 89 degrees.  I had a lovely run, saw a mink, and a snowy egret, cardinals, a red eared slider, green heron and a great Blue Heron.   I finished faster than I thought, again!  I did over 6 miles in 1:14.01.

Another lovely, and very busy, day.  Tomorrow, 3 miles, paint the basement, train the dogs so I don't completely embarrass myself completely at our upcoming Hannah Branigan seminar.

Sunday July 17-I'm 46!

Sunday was a cross-training day.  I can't remember now what I did for cross-training, but I'm hoping that several hours of dancing (though it was very wimpy dancing!) at the U2 concert counts for something!  Sunday was my 46th birthday.  We had a pretty bad day, the kids were ornery, and I was also, which never helps!  Plus I had dreadful cramps.  I did get the basement partially cleaned, though, and ready to start painting.  Then in the evening, Dixie and Shane picked me up for the U2 concert, which was my birthday gift.  Amazing!

"Long" Run day, and beyond!

Wow!  Again it's been a while since I posted.  Oops!  On Saturday I went to Grant's Trail, early, and ran.  It was very nice, getting hot, but not too hot, too early.  I saw a former student, whose shy dog has recovered completely, and is prepping for Rally classes.  She wanted to get a friend into my puppy class, so I stopped for a minute to give her the information.  I accidentally ran 8 and a bit, when I was supposed to run 7, but I figured that was just money in the bank.  The reason I ran more than planned was good, though!  I had figured 7 at 13 minutes/mile.  So, I considered my turnaround point to be about 45 minutes.  Apparently, I was moving faster than 13 mpm, so, when I got back I had an 8.2 mile route saved on the GPS on my phone.  Good stuff!  I also ran into my dear friend, Jim, who was riding his bike, and rode along with me for a bit.  All in all, a good long run day.

Friday is a REST day!

I had a lovely rest day today.  I didn't do any exercise, specifically, but I didn't actually "Rest", either.  I had a lovely meeting with my friend and former student, who happens to be the Executive Director of a local Community Center, where I am going to start teaching some classes.  Then I had a lovely client meeting, with a reactive dog, whose owner said, "WOW!  She has NEVER done this well!"  I'm so glad I'm helping them, nice family, nice dog.  And getting nicer!  Took the girls shopping at the secondhand store, then took 3 of the 4 kids for Frozen Custard.  Made Eggs Florentine for supper, then dealt with a mini-swarm of our bees on the neighbors' patio.  Now, I have to wrest the children into beds.

7 miler tomorrow.

Thursday Morning, Up and Running

Hopped out of bed today and dashed off 3.2 miles around Tower Grove Park.  Wore my Rykas, but I wish I'd worn my Pace Gloves, and taken Nitro with me, since it was a lovely 74 degrees out at 6 this morning!  Then I took the kids to camp, and did upper body weights while I was at the Y, then went to work with a reactive dog.  Busy day with the kiddos from there.  Trip to Costco, mmm...dried cherries and mangos, chocolate covered acai berries and Yasso Greek Yogurt pops.  And necessities, and lots of food for the always-eating 19 year old son.  Then they watched the 2nd Harry Potter movie with their sister, while I did paperwork, and then we went to the library, where they completed their Summer Reading Club, and collected their prizes.
Tomorrow will be a pleasure as a rest day!  I do still have a reactive dog to work with, and an appointment to look at some potential training space, and lots of physical work to do.  I should try to get as much done as possible, since it's supposed to be over 100 all week next week!  Ugh.
Now I'm off to bed.  Super sleepy.

Speedwork, Mom-style

Well, I don't know what day of training this is.  That tends to happen.  Anyway, it's A day of training, and I ran 5 miles this morning. in 53:01.  That's pretty darn fast for me.  Consider, yesterday, I ran 3.2 miles in 40 minutes.  I'm a dawdler, and I'm proud.

I don't usually do speedwork.  I don't enjoy it, and I truly don't care if I am fast.  I run for pleasure, and so I avoid turning my running time into something that I don't find pleasurable.  This is just my personal philosophy, YMMV.

But occasionally speedwork is injected into my workouts.  Here's how that usually goes:  Last night, I thought I'd prepare myself some breakfast so it would be ready to eat in the morning.  So I made a bowl of overnight Peach Oatmeal, and left it in the fridge.  This morning, I got up at 5:15, took my thyroid pill, fed the cat, birds,  and dogs, and let the dogs out.  Then I put them back away to enjoy 30 minutes of sleep.  I got up, let the dogs out, folded the laundry, and put caribbean beans and rice and pineapple upside down cake in the crock pot, for dinner tonight.  I did a load of laundry and folded it, fed and watered the chickens, and I ate my oatmeal.  I realized that it was almost 7:00 and thought, "OH CRAP!  I need an hour to run 5 miles!  But I need to get the kids up at 7:30, 7:45 at the latest, to get them to camp on time!"  I put the dogs away and hustled out the door, considering all the options.  The weather was good, after last night's storm, it was a brisk 86 F, and humid, but probably better than other options this week.  I could just do 4 today, and 5 tomorrow.  OTOH, who knows what will come up tomorrow? I have a short long run this week, only 7 miles, so I could theoretically do one on Friday.  Or, I could hustle.  I felt pretty good, procrastinating is always a poor choice, so I decided to move my feet!
I ran around Tower Grove and the MO Botanical Garden, and home.  I hustled, so I made it, got kids up and dressed, lunches made, and kids to camp on time.  Plus a good workout and the peace of mind of being done!

Ramble On- Many Training Days, and thoughts

Wow!  I haven't updated this blog for a while.  If I'm not posting, it doesn't mean I'm not running, just that other stuff is occupying all of my time!  A lot has happened since my last post.  I was excited to drive Finn to camp, and was switching days, so that I didn't have to worry about missing a workout.  Well.  I drove Finn to camp, or rather, almost to camp.  Our 2000 Honda Odyssey, with over 300,000 miles on it, died.  Somewhere on MO State Highway 8, between Potosi and Shirley MO.  In a thunderstorm.  The good news is, the wonderful folks from camp came and picked us up, and Finn got to camp with only a minor delay.  The bad news, the van is dead.  Really and truly dead.  Transmission is shot, and the head gasket is leaking anti-freeze.  Glad I didn't take the puppy along!  Poor Jacob.  After working a 12 am -2 pm shift, he had to drive the 90 miles to pick us up, and back home.  That was July 6.

 July 7th, I went to see the gastroenterologist, who was extremely unhelpful.  He did tell me I can eat whatever I want to, but that's apparently because my colon isn't exactly healing, and he wants to do more testing in 3 weeks.  Aargh.  Didn't exactly have an inspiring day that day, then thunderstorms in the afternoon kept me from making my appointed rounds of the park.  I do have to say, though,  that I am extremely happy to be back to eating real food!  Oatmeal, with soy milk, banana, almonds, and chia.  Yum.  Roasted potatoes and Asparagus with dill-lemon Cod.  Yum!

July 8 I had a super-busy work day, but did manage to get a 3 miler in, in intense heat, with Jacob at Forest Park, which was a beautiful as always.

July 9th we were scheduled for a 10 miler.  It was 110 F, with a heat index of 113, so we waited until about 4:30 pm to leave.  Jacob pushed the stroller.  We ran down to Carondelet Park, around it, back up to Tower Grove, and around part of it, then headed home.  We only ended up with 9.52 miles, but I'm counting it as done.  We ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is adequate.

July 10th was crosstraining.  I did an hour of Agility with Merlin, then did a bunch of stuff with the kids.

July 11th was a rest day, although not restful, because Jacob flew out to Washington, to help his parents with some farm work, and some other chores and plans.  He'll be back on the 22nd.  Until then, it's early morning runs or nothing for me!

July 12, got out the door by 5:45 am, it was a cool 86 F.  Ran around Tower Grove Park in my Merrell Pace Gloves.  I like running in them, they are super-light, protect my feet, and my legs actually feel like I have had a workout when I finish!  It's getting to feel odd putting on my standard Ryka running shoes, like I'm wearing high heels!  I realized that the park is pretty empty at 5;45, except for the hardcore runners and walkers.  Everyone says good morning, and I like that!  I saw a bunch of wildlife

Are we caught up yet?  Good.  Tomorrow, I will rise early, run 5, and get to work!

Update on Fund Raising!

Through so many of your generous donations, I've got a total of $743 to date!  This is great!  However, I still need to raise more to be able to scholarship someone to KPA.  $5300 -$743 = $4557.  Which means I need to raise $350.55 every week for the next 13 weeks.  I am considering having a bake sale, or something like that.  Any ideas?

Day 20

Today is scheduled for a 5 mile.  However, I have to drive Finn to Camp Lakewood, so I'll be taking liberties with the schedule once again, making today a rest day, tomorrow a 5, and Friday a 3 instead of a rest day.  This shouldn't adversely affect Saturday's 10 miler, or tomorrow's doctor's appointment.  Hope to get an all clear of some type from the doc, but I suppose all I'm getting is the okay to get the colonoscopy.
My life is just fun on top of fun!

Day 19

A sunny fun day.  Since Jacob is working the crazy weird overnight shift right now, and Selena is at camp, going this morning while it was cooler wasn't an option.  I took the kids to work with me this morning, then came home, had lunch, and went for a 3 miler with Jacob pushing Rory in the stroller, and Finn riding his bike.  Tower Grove Park.  Wore the Merrell Pace Gloves, they are still really awesome!  My legs are a little tired from Saturday's long run and yesterday's bike ride.  My right calf has been a little bit crampy, off and on, but I think it's an overuse injury from driving too much!  All in all, a good day of running, now back to walking dogs and grocery shopping.  Calisthenics later today.  I'm still pretty weak, I suppose from the meagre diet.  I see the doc on Thursday, here's hoping for some good news on the food front.

Day 17 and 18

Day 17, Sunday, was supposed to be a cross-training day.  I had a lot of work, and we had to drive Selena to archeology camp in Kampsville, IL, so I switched Sunday with Monday's rest day.  Good thing.  We drove up to Kampsville, and I was commenting all the way about how high the river was, and how it was about to storm, and worrying about the river coming up over the road.  (I have a serious phobia and recurring nightmare about driving into a river, sometimes off a bridge, sometimes just off the bank)  The family kept telling me to take a deep breath, chill and stop being neurotic.  We finally got to Kampsville, ate some dinner at a fun place, The Kampsville Inn, which is right on the Illinois river and you can watch the Ferry crossing back and forth while you eat.  The storm started, the power went out, briefly, in the restaurant, and we finished dinner.  Dropped Selena at the dorm, and got a tour.  I said, "We need to get out of here, so we can get home before the road floods!"  Again, I was told to "Chill".  We left, drove about 4 or 5 miles down the road, and the Sheriff flagged us down and told us to turn around, Highway 100 is flooded.  We could see the water streaming over the road, probably 3 feet deep and moving very fast.  I began to panic, knowing I had dogs to walk (mine and other peoples'), and not knowing any other way to get home.  I made Jacob ask the Sheriff how to get back to St. Louis.  He pondered on that for a moment, and said, "Probably the only way to do that is to go up and take the Kampsville Ferry across to Carrollton, and get on 67 to Alton, and cross the river down there."  Sigh.  At this moment, I had a serious anxiety attack.  Actually, it didn't totally hit until we were in line for the ferry.  I was crying uncontrollably, trying to be quiet so the kids wouldn't notice, and hyperventilating.  Flooding is NOT good, either in the literal sense, or in the psychological sense.  Especially if you're me, and they are directly related in both senses!  At any rate, we made it across the river, into Carrollton, and started down 67.  Jacob was driving faster than I would've, and I told him that.  He wasn't worried.  Then we hit a sudden patch of flooded road, and he kept it together, but it was scary.  A couple miles later, here is another Sheriff.  The road is flooded, but he's letting people drive through, slowly.  It was probably a foot or two deep.  More scary.  We made it the rest of the way without major events, but I'd really had enough already.  I got my work done and went to bed.  I must've been grinding my teeth the entire time, and all night, because I woke up with a terrible earache, and a TMJ attack like I've not had for years.

Today, however, is a new, and better day!  A wonderful day.  It was still raining buckets this morning, so I gave up my plan to bike to work.  I tended the pups and kitties, grabbed some groceries, and came home.  I baked an Angel Food Cake, sliced up some strawberries with honey to serve with it (for the family, not me, no berries!).  I also bought some strawberry syrup for myself, since I can't have the berries.  Jacob got some work done painting beehives.

The sun finally decided to make an appearance, so we packed up some picnic lunch, put the bikes and bike trailer in and onto the van, and went to Grant's Trail, one of our local rails-to-trails projects.  It's a perfect place for kids to work on their cycling skills because it's wide, flat, paved and closed to all but foot, bike and skate traffic.  Finnegan rode his new bike, I rode my awesome bike, and Jacob pulled Aurora in the Burley trailer.  We only did about 6 miles, but it was fun, and Finn worked on passing, announcing "On Your Left", and hand signals.  We saw and heard lots of critters, and got a wee little cross training workout.

Came home, dropped Jacob off since he has to work an insane midnight to noon shift tomorrow (Starting at midnight tonight).  Took kids with me to care for some doggies, then to Mr. Wizards Frozen Custard!
Came home and took Merlin for a walk.  Now the kids are watching a movie, getting ready for Macaroni and cheese and peas, dogs are fed, and all is well.

Tomorrow- 3 miles and pack Finnegan for his first experience at sleep away camp on Wednesday!

Day 16

This morning's run was everything I could ask for in a run.  I woke up, took care of the dogs, cat and birds, and debated waking Jacob.  I left him sleeping.  He's worked so many long hours over the past few days, and will be working another dreadful shift on the 5th, so I thought he needed the sleep.  And sometimes, I just like to run alone.  I had a glass of apple juice, since I'm having a lot of gut pain again, and am back to clear liquids.  I prepped my stuff (bottle belt, phone into ziploc bag, shoes, socks, hat, sunblock), and drove to Forest Park, which is a beautiful park in the city.  It's large, the site of the 1904 World's Fair, our Science Center, Art Museum,  and our fabulous St. Louis Zoo, two golf courses, two tennis centers, an ice rink, an archery field,  the Jewel Box (a beautiful glass greenhouse), the Muny Opera, baseball and softball, soccer and cricket fields, and woods and streams, playgrounds and trails.  I started my run at the Fieldhouse, and ran on the gravel path along River Des Peres, to the new sections of boardwalk over the wetlands restoration.  It was amazingly gorgeous.  Cup plants taller than me, cheerful, rippling water, water lilies, frogs, egrets, a Blue Heron, and a Green Heron, and a flurry of red-winged blackbirds.  A male, Eastern Box Turtle was in the middle of the path, in all his neon colored mating season glory.  I saw the spot where the raccoon feeds, lots of empty, shining, discarded mussel shells in the water,  just off the edge of the rock.  So much beauty, just in this small space.

I'm glad I ran by myself today.  The thing I love most about distance running is the time I can spend with myself, and enjoying the world around me.  I can run for two hours, and process a lot of information, internal and external.  I'm not able to do sitting meditation for that period of time, my body is too distractable, I have to keep it busy with the motion of running to be able to focus enough to map my internal landscape.  At the moment, I have a lot to process.  This colon issue has me thinking and chasing my mental tail.  Everything I read tells me that what I need to do to solve this, is what I have always done, before this happened.  I feel betrayed by my body, we've been partners for so long, and yes, we've had our ups and downs, but I thought we had a good thing going, and now this.  I have a deep seed of fear that it has to be cancer or some other invasive problem, because I can't believe my body would let me down like this.  And I can't stop thinking about my dad, diagnosed with colon cancer and dead in a couple of years.  It's good to be able to write about things you don't really like to say out loud.  I've said it, but not often.  I'll say it here, though, I am not going to die.  Then I think more about this, how they say lots of people have it, it's no big deal, it's controllable, but I was already doing everything they say to do, and THEN I got sick.  So, I spent some time thinking about fear, and death, and how I can be proactive in my own healthcare, how I'm going to heal this, and thinking about how many people are so much worse off than I am, and still going out and getting on with their lives.  Which seems to be the only smart choice.  To live each minute that you're alive.

Then moving onward into appreciating the world around me, and thinking about how I am still able to move myself forward, and motivate myself to do the training I want to do.  I was extra thankful for the local running store, Ghisallo Running, who had an aid station set up at the park, for anyone who needed a drink.  They gave me a nice cool cup of watered-down Gatorade, just what I needed at that moment, as my water was warming up.

The west side of the park is hard to find shade in, because of the golf course.  I don't begrudge the golfers, but I do think golf courses are a selfish use of space, monoculture, and elitist by their nature of denying anyone else use of that space.  They won't even let barefoot runners on the course, even if no one is playing.  I'm alway a little worried about mis-fired balls hitting me when I run down the side of the course.  I know that's a somewhat irrational fear, but I guess I'm worst-case scenario girl when it comes to being whacked in the head by fast moving objects.

When I run I think about lots stuff, some profound, some not so much.  Like that Standard Poodles (of which I saw a herd, a woman with 6 Apricot poodles) have the same body type as Afghan Hounds (of which I saw two, running, much more graceful than I).  They have  an upright posture, small waist, smooth, light gait, high tail carriage.  On the only slightly more profound end, I spent a lot of time pondering the word play of running as a soul-baring,  sole-baring, and weight-bearing, activity.

I know this is a long, disjointed, rambling post.  It was a long, disjointed, rambling run.  I'm not a fast runner, for me, running, like everything else, is a process, not a product.  Today's process was exceptionally good.

The stats for today, 2:02.10 hours, 8.80 miles, max speed 7.25 mph, avg speed 4.49 mph, elevation gain 1,472 ft, min elevation 451 ft, mx elevation 728 ft.  This from My Tracks on my Droid.  Wore my Ryka shoes today, since I'm not quite ready to do long runs in the Merrell's.

Day 14 and 15

Day 14 was a real trial.  I had a lot of "kid-stuff" to deal with, and it ate all of my run time during the day.  Then we came home to a plethora of dog puke and diarrhea, which I had to leave, because some guy was harassing Selena on her walk to Target from a friend's house, so I had to go drive her back, and Jacob didn't get home from work until 8:30, then graciously cleaned up the horrific mess, but we didn't get to run, then, either.

This morning, I planned to run early, before it was 95F, but woke with a lot of gut pain, again.  It seems to be dissipating, so I'm hoping to take the kids on their bikes and run a long, flat, stretch of Grant's Trail this afternoon.

I am determined to get my marathon training done, and I will.  These sorts of obstacles always come up, and they are always surmountable.  I always get to the finish line, and I don't intend to change that now!

And a quick shoe note!  I am still LOVING, LOVING, LOVING the Merrell Pace Glove shoes!  They are fab for everyday wear, I love the color (chili pepper red), and they are non-smelly (a big issue for me) and they are easy to rinse off (stepped in a LOT of muck the other day) and are holding up well to my abuse.  I tend to go through shoes very quickly, the soles, although soft, are not showing signs of wear.