Thursday, June 24, 2010
I felt it!!!
I am in Buffalo, NY this week and had the craziest thing happened yesterday. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business when my computer monitor on my lap top started shaking and it felt like someone was shaking my chair...only no one was behind me. It was the tremors from this. Pretty crazy stuff!!!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
In need of a lawn mower
Does anyone in blogger land have a used lawn mower they would like to sell or know of a used lawn mower for sale? My lawn mower is on life -1 of 9 and is dying a slow painful death. I'm going to have to hire sheep soon, or have my friends' kids' come over with scissors and cut the grass by hand. Let me know if you do please.....for the kids' sake. Thanks!
Bellin Run 10K
Saturday was the 34th running of the Bellin Run 10K, which is one of the largest 10K's in the country and right in our back yard. I have run this race on and off for several years, and this was the first organized race I ever ran when I started running. I didn't even know if I could make the whole 6.2 miles. And I've been hooked on running ever since. This race continues to grow and this year reached a new participant amount of 18,398 registered participants. Just amazing.
Traditionally it is hot and humid and this year was definitely not going to disappoint, especially in the humidity department. All week there were concerns of thunderstorms but thankfully those went else. Instead we were left with 100% humidity and temps in the low 60's. Bright spot....or rather not so bright spot is that it was 100% cloudy...awesome!!
The race runs two very popular programs within the run, the Corporate Challenge and the Kids for Running. I lead our corporate challenge program through work. It's great. Extra t-shirts for signing up, early delivery of your packet, good perks. The Kids for Running program is also very cool. Schools have people actually run and train with the kids. It's great to get the youth into running.
The run has incorporated waves into the starting process, so you sign up based on your expected pace and that places you in a wave. Waves go every 5 minutes. This year there were 8 waves. So if you are in a later wave you might be able to see the winners finish. That's pretty cool and it keeps the congestion and chaos of the start down and more controlled. I was in the first wave, so Mark and I trooped up to the front, as our wave was first to go. They announced the pros and we were set to go. The gun went off and it took us about a minute to get to the start. We were pushing a good pace, not able to talk except a few words but not blazing fast. The first couple miles are uphill. I usually go out too fast and suffer on the back stretch. I didn't want to do that today. Mark and I had done a 2 mile warm up before the race so I thought I was warmed up well and ready to go. We checked off mile 1 and I was feeling okay, not great but okay. My heart rate was pretty high and I wasn't able to breathe as well as I had wanted. We were about 1.5 miles in and I decided to start slowing down a bit, conserve some for after the hill. And I just kept feeling worse, never better. I was getting warm at this point too. Past mile 2 down and up and down the Greene Ave hills. Still not feeling good. My legs were empty and my heart rate was out of control high. Past mile 3 to the water station. Mark was still with me even though he was bouncing around, talking, obviously not hardly working and I was clearly slowing him down. For about the 100th time I told him to go and I would meet him at the finish but he stayed. We walked through the water station trying to get my heart rate down. It was down but shot back up as soon as I started running again. Oh well, over half done. Past mile 4, then about 4.3 in Mark's nephew Zach whips past us and I tell Mark to go and get him and I walk for a bit. I was ashamed of walking. Not cool. I just had nothing in me. So then I vowed to finish, running, no more breaks. Past mile 5, only 1 mile left. I can make it. Down the forever long Clay St. past mile 6, around two corners and giving it all I have into the finish (which wasn't much at this point). Finished.....50:07. So disappointed. My best time was last year at 46:59. So very disappointed. I ran terrible, I felt terrible, the whole day was just terrible.
I was so mad at how the race went. I had had two good runs this past week leading up to the race, a good interval day and a good tempo day but I just couldn't put it to work on race day. My legs were empty, my heart rate was the highest I have ever seen and mentally I just broke down. Back to the drawing board on this one.
On the plus side, after we finished and talked to people a bit at the finish, Mark and I ran back and got Jeff, Erik and his daughter. She is 10 and was running the Bellin for the first time. Super cool!! She did awesome! Jeff also cut 4 1/2 minutes off his previous best from last year! He continues to improve and do well. The last couple were a ton more fun than the first 6, there is something to be said for seeing people continue to improve and get stronger and faster. So neat to see. I didn't talk to anyone cool and famous like Brad did, I'm just not that good or cool. But I did get to see a lot of my friends and co-workers out there racing and having fun and that was awesome! Congrats to all the finishers.
Traditionally it is hot and humid and this year was definitely not going to disappoint, especially in the humidity department. All week there were concerns of thunderstorms but thankfully those went else. Instead we were left with 100% humidity and temps in the low 60's. Bright spot....or rather not so bright spot is that it was 100% cloudy...awesome!!
The race runs two very popular programs within the run, the Corporate Challenge and the Kids for Running. I lead our corporate challenge program through work. It's great. Extra t-shirts for signing up, early delivery of your packet, good perks. The Kids for Running program is also very cool. Schools have people actually run and train with the kids. It's great to get the youth into running.
The run has incorporated waves into the starting process, so you sign up based on your expected pace and that places you in a wave. Waves go every 5 minutes. This year there were 8 waves. So if you are in a later wave you might be able to see the winners finish. That's pretty cool and it keeps the congestion and chaos of the start down and more controlled. I was in the first wave, so Mark and I trooped up to the front, as our wave was first to go. They announced the pros and we were set to go. The gun went off and it took us about a minute to get to the start. We were pushing a good pace, not able to talk except a few words but not blazing fast. The first couple miles are uphill. I usually go out too fast and suffer on the back stretch. I didn't want to do that today. Mark and I had done a 2 mile warm up before the race so I thought I was warmed up well and ready to go. We checked off mile 1 and I was feeling okay, not great but okay. My heart rate was pretty high and I wasn't able to breathe as well as I had wanted. We were about 1.5 miles in and I decided to start slowing down a bit, conserve some for after the hill. And I just kept feeling worse, never better. I was getting warm at this point too. Past mile 2 down and up and down the Greene Ave hills. Still not feeling good. My legs were empty and my heart rate was out of control high. Past mile 3 to the water station. Mark was still with me even though he was bouncing around, talking, obviously not hardly working and I was clearly slowing him down. For about the 100th time I told him to go and I would meet him at the finish but he stayed. We walked through the water station trying to get my heart rate down. It was down but shot back up as soon as I started running again. Oh well, over half done. Past mile 4, then about 4.3 in Mark's nephew Zach whips past us and I tell Mark to go and get him and I walk for a bit. I was ashamed of walking. Not cool. I just had nothing in me. So then I vowed to finish, running, no more breaks. Past mile 5, only 1 mile left. I can make it. Down the forever long Clay St. past mile 6, around two corners and giving it all I have into the finish (which wasn't much at this point). Finished.....50:07. So disappointed. My best time was last year at 46:59. So very disappointed. I ran terrible, I felt terrible, the whole day was just terrible.
I was so mad at how the race went. I had had two good runs this past week leading up to the race, a good interval day and a good tempo day but I just couldn't put it to work on race day. My legs were empty, my heart rate was the highest I have ever seen and mentally I just broke down. Back to the drawing board on this one.
On the plus side, after we finished and talked to people a bit at the finish, Mark and I ran back and got Jeff, Erik and his daughter. She is 10 and was running the Bellin for the first time. Super cool!! She did awesome! Jeff also cut 4 1/2 minutes off his previous best from last year! He continues to improve and do well. The last couple were a ton more fun than the first 6, there is something to be said for seeing people continue to improve and get stronger and faster. So neat to see. I didn't talk to anyone cool and famous like Brad did, I'm just not that good or cool. But I did get to see a lot of my friends and co-workers out there racing and having fun and that was awesome! Congrats to all the finishers.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Memorial Day
I know I am really late with this post. I have been busy lately. Still got a house for sale....anyone interested?? Anyway, had a really nice Memorial Day weekend. Did some kayaking, running, biking, swimming and even went to the outdoor theatre in Freedom.
First off, on Saturday ran with the guys (I was the only girl, not too scary though) in the morning. Went and checked out Scray Cheese after the run. Pretty cool place. Then went kayaking in the afternoon. Put in on the Suamico River and paddled out in the Bay to Longtail (a popular sand bar that is usually packed on the weekends, and it was hopping). Once you get to the end of the island you can see the Tower Drive bridge. Pretty cool. On the way back we parked the kayaks and put our feet in the water. It was very warm. It felt really good.
Tower Drive bridge
Tower Drive bridge
East Shore of the Bay of Green Bay
Green Bay West Shores State Wildlife Area
On Sunday Erik and I biked. Then Asher played outside a bit in his pool to keep cool. It was hot!! We then went to Appleton to Fava Tea (our favorite place for loose leaf tea) to the mall and on to the Field of Scenes in Freedom for an outdoor movie. We saw Shrek Forever After and Ironman 2. Both were very good. Because it's outdoors, the movies don't start until dusk, which is late...for me at least. The first movie didn't start until 8:45 and we didn't get home until 1:00 am. Which is way past my bedtime. Asher's too I think. He was getting very whinny and cranky towards the end of the second movie. He just wanted to jump in my lap and go to sleep but I was sitting in a lawn chair so he curled up by my feet and continued to be cranky until we went him home. Just like a kid. This place totally has it figured out though. They do a great job. They have tons of food and lots of stuff for the kids to do while you are waiting for the movies to start. They even have wagon rides. It's a first come, first serve deal and only 300 cars get in each night so you have to get there early. We got there at 6:15 and there was already quite a few people there when we got there. They even have all the little details worked out, like ropes to tie down your hatches so you turn off your inside lights and don't block the view of anyone behind you, window cleaner to clean your windows if you sit in your car to watch the movies, the rows of cars are big mounds so you can park at an angle and not be obstructed by the car in front of you and battery chargers in case your battery dies while you have the radio on listening to the movie. They just do a great job and it's fun. I just wish it wasn't so late.
Asher at his first outdoor movie
Asher people watching
The screen and all the cars parked ready for the show to start
On Monday, Memorial Day, I slept in...kind of....late night the night before at the movie. I went for a bike ride and then a short run with Asher (who was still cranky from the late night before). Since Asher was still cranky we left him home to sleep and went down to High Cliff State Park and kayaked on Lake Winnebago and then I swam and tried my new wetsuit. The half ironman is in just a couple weeks so I wanted to try it out. It worked great and the water was nice. Warmer than I expected.
High Cliff State Park/Lake Winnebago
High Cliff State Park/Lake Winnebago
High Cliff State Park/Lake Winnebago
It was a very fun weekend. We were super busy but all good things. I was tired when I went back to work on Tuesday.
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