Defeat of Jesse James Days 5K

OK, I'm not doing so hot at keeping up with this blog. On Friday, I went for my first bike ride since RAGBRAI. It was only 1/2 hour, but it felt great! I actually missed my bike, and didn't know it. I'm looking forward to riding my bike more often, at least until the snow starts to fly.

Yesterday, I ran in the Defeat of Jesse James Days 5K in my hometown of Northfield, MN. Greg was so excited to run with me, but he is still recovering from his cold/swine flu. So, he brought Skeeter the Wonder Dog to cheer me on. It really means so much to have a cheering squad out there for you.

In past years, there have only been about 50 runners with me. This year there was easily 200 runners. Missing from the crowd was my dear friend Kari, who didn't have the vacation time to come up from Dallas. It wasn't the same without her, but I completely understand why she couldn't make it. Also missing, the blind man who kept passing me. I really wanted to see him too!

2 blocks into the run, I saw a member of the James Gang on horse back. It was so cool! Then we were headed up a short hill. 1 mile into it, there was a pretty good hill, but not as bad as I remembered it. A little over 1 mile into it, I passed a local girlfriend of mine, Sarah. Her 11 year old son then smoked me! 1 1/2 miles into it I hit the hill that haunted me 4 years ago. However, this year it was like an ant hill. I can't believe that hill made me have to walk back then.

At 2+ miles it felt like most of the course was downhill. I remembered it being almost all uphill, but now I realized that there are some big ups, but it mostly a gradual downhill course.

The last 3 blocks of the course had people lining the streets and cheering us on. It made me grin from ear to ear. Again, this is very different from 4 years ago when I was quietly flipping off the crowd. Greg and Skeeter were at the finish cheering me on. It was wonderful!

I forgot my watch that day, but Greg timed me and said I finished in 31 minutes flat! What a difference 1 year can make!

Hey fever, a Cold or the Swine Flu

Week 2 of the 1/2 marathon training began today. I ran 30 minutes. This isn't too bad so far. It's pretty much where I've been for the summer.

However, when I hit the trail, I felt odd. I'd been stuffy all day. Now, my back muscles feel odd. I think it's hey fever. It's pretty bad here right now, with everyone feeling the hey fever itch. Then again, Greg has a pretty bad cold right now. Or, Greg may have the Swine Flu. They symptoms of both are so similar for him. He is slightly stuffy, but now he has a pretty deep cough. I just hope he slept better tonight than last night. He looked pretty rough today on Skype.

Tomorrow is cross training day. I'm planning on going for a bike ride in the morning. It will be my first time on the bike since RAGBRAI. I can't wait!!!

1/2 Marathon Training

Yesterday, Greg and I officially began training for our 1/2 Marathon. We will be doing the Rock-n-Roll Vegas 1/2 Marathon in December. It's scary, but should be so much fun. We're starting at one end of the Vegas strip, running to the other end, then back again. It's going to be so flat! Yeah!!

So, back to yesterday. I was to run for 30 minutes. It was supposed to be speed drills, but with my sore foot, I decided just to concentrate on keeping my pace up for the duration.

It was a good run. My first mile was 10 minutes, which is really good for me. I'm getting slowly faster, and it feels great. I'm excited to see where I will be come December.

I think the training plan I've chosen will be so good for me. It's time based for the majority of the week, with the mileage days on Saturdays. It seems do-able. I can't see doing 13.1 miles, but then again I never saw myself doing a triathlon or riding my bike across the state of Iowa for a week.

This should be a trying and amazing time. I'm so excited!

Broken Toes

12 longs days ago, I broke my toe. It is my "ring" toe on my left foot. It was a tragic accident. So violent and heart wrenching. That's a lie. I stubbed me toe on my dog's bone. It was one of those huge pig femurs. It's a dinosaur bone! It didn't move, and my toe cracked.

This is now my 3rd broken toe over 10 years. Not too bad of a track record for how clumsy I am. Anyway, Greg convinced me to go to the doctor. He wanted to make sure I didn't injure myself further by training for our half marathon. So I went and she was wonderful. She said I could run in 7 -10 days, with no problems.

So, it's day 12. I've been in St Croix, USVI for 4 days now and I feel like a slug. I feel bloated. I've eaten too much. My diet isn't going so well. I needed to do something.

I hit the trail at the Buccaneer Resort. It's really a golf cart path, but it works. It's a hilly course with an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean. What a beautiful site.

My toe did OK, except for the up hills. It helped me practice my flat footed technique for running. Running flat footed did help. However, after a 30 minute, slow, run I was finished. Now, I'm off to fly into Hurricane Bill. What a great way to start a night flight! I'm stoked!

RAGBRAI Recovery

My body has returned! I went for a 3 mile run today, but it felt so good, I decided to run for at least 45 minutes. That went a little longer, 47 minutes. It was about 4.3+ miles in total.

Finally, my arms didn't feel week. My breathing seemed normal. My legs still felt strong.

It took 1 1/2 weeks, but I think I've pretty much recovered from RAGBRAI!

Now, I need to remember that I shouldn't push too hard. I want to go out and run again tomorrow. However, I don't want to back track. So, tomorrow will be yoga or an easy bike ride. Although, I'm not sure if I'm ready to get on my bike again. We'll see.

Running after RAGBRAI

Today, I went for a 5K run on the path just in front of our house. I just wanted to get moving again. I still feel tired after RAGBRAI. I feel almost lazy. I just feel drained, weak, and generally exhausted.

It was tough. My legs felt heavy. However, they felt strong too. My legs were not what held me back.

My lungs felt heavy too. It almost felt like I had a cold. At the end of the run, I realized that the issue with my lungs was probably that I didn't breath too deeply when I was biking. Now that I'm running again, I'm taking deep breaths. I need to train my lungs again.

My arms were also failing me too! They felt like jello. They felt like lead weights. The felt like they were weighing me down. I was hard to swing them and get a good stride.

During the last .65 mile, I turned into the wind. That head wind DID NOT help me. It was a struggle. I tried to let me legs do the work, since they seemed to be the only strong part of my body left.

At the end, I started to walk but had to quickly stop. I started to feel very light headed. I had no idea how hard I had pushed myself. Apparently, too hard. At least I can say I ran 5K today. That's better than the week before. Maybe my energy will return soon.

RAGBRAI 2009!

Register's Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa!

RAGBRAI 2009

It was an amazing trip last week. It had ups and downs, but more ups than downs. The ride pushed me to my physical limits, but showed me that what I thought was a limit, was really something I could overcome. I smiled more on a bike than I ever have before. I ate my weight in pie!

All in all, I rode for 465 miles across the beautiful state of Iowa. This year's RAGBRAI took us through the scenic parts of southern Iowa. If you thought Iowa was flat, you were wrong! The first 2 days had so many hills that I thought my legs would give out. However, I made it up every single hill and didn't walk!

The towns we stopped in were beautiful. They came about every 10 miles along the day's route, giving me a much needed break from the bike. The communities had food and pie galore to sell to our weary souls. It was amazing how much food I could put down in a day. I loved the pie! What a great excuse to gorge myself after 9 months of dieting.

Here are some lessons I learned at RAGBRAI:

1. Announce your every move and every thing in front of you! If you were getting off or on your bike, you announced it. If a car was coming, you screamed car up to warn the other riders. I still feel a need to announce "Stopping" when I sit on the couch.

2. I'm so important that cops are at every corner to stop traffic for me. OK, I know this isn't true in real life, but I did get used to it on the road. On day 6, I was walking across a road to the showers and realized I didn't even attempt to look both ways before crossing. Why would I? The State Patrol are my personal body guards.

3. Hamstrings are nasty muscles. What I thought was knee pain, was a very tight hamstring. Stretching properly before, during and after the rides is so important now that I'm older. So sad to see what age has done.

4. Friends are priceless! Kari really helped me through this whole week. We had an amazing relationship on the bike. We would ride together about half the time. Otherwise, we were happy to meet up with each other at the next town, or at the next hill. It meant so much to see a smiling face at each stop. She helped me stay focused and never let me think I couldn't do it. She made the whole ride so much fun. We sang our way through Iowa, much to the other riders' dismay. ABBA, Meatloaf, Blondie and the Mullet Song were our favorites. Luckily, the karaoke line was too long at one of our stops so the town was spared from our vocals.

5. My husband is amazing! Greg was our primary support crew for the whole 7 days. He transported all of our stuff from town to town. He found us the perfect campsites, and roped off an area that had plenty of space for all of us. He set up the Lufkin Lodge tent each day. He cooked amazing meals for the entire team. He always met me with a huge grin and a big bear hug when I triumphantly arrived at camp. He's the most supportive husband in the world. What other man would follow his wife and friends across Iowa?

6. Weather is unpredictable! I should know this by know, being a meteorologist and all. We had temperatures in the 50s, 1/8 mile visibility in fog, rain, thunder, high winds, heat, and hail. The hail storm hit at 5 am one morning. We thought we'd seen it all up to that point, but then the hail hit. What was next, frogs and locust?

7. The Mississippi River can bring me to tears! Yes, at the end of the week, the site of the Mighty Mississippi did bring tears to my eyes. I still can't believe I did this! Me, the un-athletic girl. Me, the one who was always picked last for sports. Me, the one who finished runs last. Me, the girl who loves TV and being lazy. Me, the one who struggles to pass PT tests. Me, the girl who HATED gym class. I still can't believe I did this. I never thought it was possible. What's next?