2011 Race Schedule

This is kind of late, as I've already done three races this year, but here is my race schedule for 2011 through September.  I may throw in some last minute stuff but these are all the big races.

1/16/2011   Naples Half Marathon     Naples, FL
3/5/2011     Shamrock 8K                 Buffalo, NY
4/16/2011   ENVIRUN 5K               Niagara Falls State Park
5/1/2011     Big Sur Marathon           Monterey, CA
6/5/2011     REV 3 Quassy               Middlebury, CT
7/2/2011     A Tri in the Buff              Buffalo, NY
7/17/2011   Musselman Half-Iron      Geneva, NY
9/11/2011   Ironman Wisconsin         Madison, WI

I also want to take a trip up to watch Ironman Lake Placid, I just have to find a place to stay and that's all set too.  I also was thinking of an ultra at the end of the year but we'll see how that plays out.  Lots of fun planned for the year.

30th Birthday

Today was my 30th birthday.  Yep, I'm getting old.  Asher wanted to give me a special birthday present but he needed a little help so he called upon Jeff to help him.  Jeff made him a sign that said "Happy Birthday Mom" and put it on his running jacket.  Well Asher gets a little excited when you put his jacket on him so getting him to control himself and sit still was a little tricky.  Below are pictures that are very much Asher and how he rolls.  He's a happy kid.

"Sweet, I got my running jacket on.  Whoa, super excited, better get my ball (because that's what I always get when I'm excited)."

"I love my ball.  And I still got my jacket on so I'm still super excited."

"Jeff is trying to take a picture of me, maybe I should run over to him so he can pet me."

"That ball looks awesome, so awesome I am drooling, better lick my lips.....wait, I don't have lips....."

"Oh, you wanted me to lay nice so I could say 'Happy Birthday Mom', simple, no prob."

Envirun 5K

The weather here has been less than stellar lately and I am getting cabin fever in a serious way...maybe the worst I have ever been.  So when the weather people said it was going to rain, a lot, and be super crazy windy all weekend I was totally bummed.  I had planned to do the Envirun 5K up at Niagara Falls and I was planning to take Asher up there and we would do our long run on the trails up there before and after the race.  "Torrential" rain postponed this.  So I started out on the treadmill and was deciding about the race.  Well I got to 8 miles and said "I'm going"!  That was enough of the treadmill for me.  So I headed to Niagara Falls for the race.  Jeff came along too and I was glad he did.  It took me longer to get there than I had planned (the story of my life) and I got to the race about 5 minutes before the start and I still had to check in and get my bib (no chips at this one).  I jumped out of the car, he went and parked and I picked up my stuff.  I even started the race with my race shirt in my pocket and shorts and pants on because I didn't have time to take my pants off before the race.  As I was leaving the registration tent they radioed to the start that the last person checked in...yep...nice AJ.  I got to the start and we were off.  The race went around Goat Island and we got to run by the rivers that lead into all three of the falls.  Super cool.  I love this place.  We got to run 1/2 mile into a nasty head wind but then cruised back.  And the rain stopped for the race, how awesome is that!!  Good race and I hope to be back next year in the sunshine with my pooch! (Thanks to Jeff for the pictures.)

Me at the finish, holding my bib because I didn't have time to put in on before the race. 

American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls

 

Horseshoe Falls

Long time....no post

It has been a terribly long time since I have posted here.  Wow.  Sorry to my few readers.  What's been going on?  Well lots, but then when I look back, not a lot but I always seem to run out of time.  It's been cold and snowy here for far too long.  I am so ready for some warm weather.  So what is new.....not a whole lot.  I have been training a lot.  Asher has been an awesome running partner.  I am building my mileage for the Big Sur Marathon on May 1 and he has been a great running partner.  He has done back-to-back 16 milers and has done great.  And he is loving every minute of it.  He wears his backpack and shoes and people check him out as we are running along.

Jeff, Asher and I have been trying to get out and do as much as we can with the sub-par weather.  We went to our first professional lacross game a few weeks ago and are going to another one this weekend.  The Buffalo Bandits.  Until I moved here I never knew there was a professional lacross league.  The games are pretty wild and fun.  They are rough and the crowd really gets into it, chanting and yelling and they play music throughout the whole game.  Pretty cool. 

I took a couple trips up to Canada to get some lactate testing done for my coach and then I did the Shamrock 8K here in Buffalo.  The weather was terrible, rainy and 30+ mph winds but it was good to get out and race again.  I have my race schedule set through September so I'll get that posted on here as well.  Lots of new races to try which will be fun....and even a little traveling to new places as well.  I'm looking forward to it all.

I'll be better about updating in the future.  Promise.  I hope everyone is well and praying for spring. 

Snowshoeing

We finally got out recently to snowshoe.  Last Sunday we went to Chestnut Ridge Park and today we went to 18 mile creek park.  Both were awesome.  Here are a few pics: 

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

2 hours of fun and a huge smile for Asher

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park

Check out the frozen cliff.  People were ice (rock) climbing on the ice on the cliffs

18 mile creek park

Another happy Asher after a fun day in the snow

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park

18 mile creek park



More Naples Pictures

Here are a few more Naples pictures.  You can never have too many of the beach and the water.  I love it!!!

Scorpion (don't worry, he's dead, we checked!)

Wiggins Pass

Back of Jim's House

Flowers outside Jim's house

More flowers

Naples

Last Friday, Jan 14-Monday Jan 17th I went to Naples, FL for a long weekend.  I went for many reasons but the big ones were to run the Naples News Half Marathon with Mark, to see Mark, Sue and Mark's dad Jim (which is where we stayed) and to see my Godfather Brent and see his house and hang with him for a day.  So needless to say, lots of really good reasons to go to Florida in January.  Oh yeah, and because Florida is the only state without snow and here in Buffalo it's always snowing, everyday, sometimes multiple times in a day.  I didn't take my shorts off the whole trip!  It was awesome.  

I flew in early Friday morning and Brent picked me up at the airport.  One slight miss-hap getting off the plane.  A person on our plane couldn't wait 3 hours to smoke and was caught smoking in the bathroom on the plane.  So a man in a haz-mat suit had to check out the plane and the police and eventually the FBI had to have a fun visit with this man.  Federal offense.  Dumb idea.  Anyway.  Other than that the flight was great.  I highly recommend Jet Blue to fly with.  Brent and I headed to his house, I met his friend Jim and then we headed to the beach.  And oh was the beach beautiful.  White sand, lots of shells to pick, beautiful (but cold) water. 

Back of Brent's house

Barefoot Beach (Gulf of Mexico)

Shells

Barefoot Beach

Beautiful

We did a little more sightseeing and then headed to Jim's house.  Where I met this pretty lady.  Trudy.  Trudy and I became good friends over the few days I was there.  She's a sweetie.

Trudy

Saturday Mark and I went running, in shorts, and then went and picked up our packets and did a little sightseeing. After lunch we hit the beach.

Beach with Condos in the distance

More condos in a pass

Beach

Pelican

Sunday was the race.  Mark and I ran together, both with colds but we made it.  It was funny to see all the natives there with jackets and long sleeves and even some gloves and hats.  Mark and I had on sleeveless shirts and shorts.  Funny!  The race was very well run, there were about 2,000 runners and the course weaves though the "high rent district" of Naples.  Some major money where we ran.  Beautiful homes.  We even had a priest bless us, twice, on the race course.  A very nice race and one we hope to do again and hopefully feel better.  The rest of the day we just relaxed at the beach. 

Monday, Mark and I went running on the beach.  Past some beautiful beach homes.

And picked some shells.  It rained pretty much the rest of the day so we did a little shopping and hit the Naples Pier.  This pier has been rebuilt year after year when it gets knocked out from a hurricane.  We also saw some people wind surfing since there were actually waves.  Cool stuff!

Wind Surfing

Naples Pier

Naples Pier

And a great way to end the trip.  A rainbow over the lake outside Jim's house.  (On the left is a key lime tree.  Awesome key lime pie was made as well!)