When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Henri Nouwen
Since things are slow with us lately, maybe we should shoot for a monthly thread until things pick up again(?).
Stumpy - Very good news about your heart/meds. Good luck with your race.
Ev - You're right. People are put in and taken out of our lives for specific reasons. I will always be grateful to Karen for getting me started running.
Funny - we met years ago when she was a substitute at Bonkos. She subbed a couple of times, I thought she was kind of obnoxious (as she could get when she drank. doesn't drink anymore), then nothing for like a year. She came back as a sub, and because she had lost a lot of weight, I didn't really recognize her at first. Me: "Did you lose weight?" Her: "Yeah, 60 pounds." WOW! She became a permanent player, and still annoyed the heck out of me, but we started talking at the monthly games, I got to know her better, she started talked to me about running, I was looking for something new to do exercise-wise, and the rest is history. She became one of my absolute best friends.
45 min of core/strength training for me this a.m. First time in 4 weeks. I kept it kind of easy so as to not totally kill myself.
I think I'm having a bout of minor Achilles tendonitis, so I've made an appointment with my doc for Thurs for a referral to PT. I have too much at stake this year to try and fool around with self-healing, and right now I think it's minor enough that there shouldn't be too much of a running inconvenience. Keep your fingers crossed.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
fingrs are crossd for the achilles.
10spot for me in the dschnizzle fdrizzle.
Good running to all!
Nice 10-er, Ev.
5 miles this a.m. in foggy, damp conditions. Sort of a botched tempo run. Miles 3 and 4 were suppose to be tempo miles, but when I turned around at Mile 2.5, I had a brain fart and hit the lap button. Took me almost .20 to realize what I did. Oh well.
Then had to take Mr. Mr. to the vet for yet another abscess. Got bit in the butt, more than likely by either Chico or Goofy since they don't like him. The last one we were able to take care of ourselves. This one, we tried last night and he, in turn, tried to bite the carp out of The Hub. Guess the butt area is a bit more tender than the side. Twenty minutes later and $135 lighter, walked out of the vet with his behind partially shaved and two good size puncture wounds exposed and . . . well, I won't go into further detail in case some is eating. *sigh* Life in ye ole household is not kitty nirvana at the moment.
Queen of 3rd Place
Was out of the country visiting the Galapagos (lifetime dream trip) last week and am just now catching up...didn't do any running, it's literally not allowed in the Galapagos. Most of the islands are uninhabited, and collectively are a national park. Access is strictly controlled, you can only go with a guide (sort of a ranger), and each ranger can only bring 20 people at a time. But it works well, the islands are in good health, and there are TONS of animals, completely unafraid of humans, wherever you go. The animals are so unafraid that you have to be careful in places to not step on one! I can't tell you how many times I almost stepped on a sea lion or an iguana, they look a lot like rocks.
Stumpy - looks like you had a bit of a scare, sure am glad to hear everything's ok!
Leslie - fun story about Karen. Interesting how that friendship evolved, and how she really did change your life.
ev - wow when did you pick it up into the double-digit runs? Sneaky!
Ex runner
Trails are hard!
Guess that's a reasonable excuse (very jealous!). any pictures to post?
Yeah, Ev--what's up with that? lull us into complacency with 3er and 6er's and then BANG. 10. WTG.
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
Here's my favorite, these guys would just swim right up to you.
Sweet trip, Arla!! More pictures, please.
Today was a core/strength training day, about 45 min worth. Am mostly using my TRX this round as opposed to just my free weights. I'm thinking I need to up my C/ST days to at least 3x a week, but where I'm gonna fit that in, I'm not sure as my routine is not conducive to 2 days in a row. I suck at figuring this stuff out.
Cats....kitties.....kittens.....we do love our pets. I don't speak much about Rambo here on the forum, but life would not be the same without him. He's an indoor cat for the last 15 years or so, so he doesn't get into many scrapes. And baths....they say cats don't like to take baths. Well Rambo loves them. I give him a bath about evry week. I don't mind, except the hair does kinda stick to my tongue. Hope Mr. Mr. butt heals up quickly.
Arla, nice trip. Yes, please more photos.
Stump and Arla....thanks for noticing. Yes, I have broken into double digits. You'll notice my log indicates a very gradual build up. I have posted two 8 milers in addition to the usual 3's and 6's. Even though I'm going in with very low miles, my plans are to do a half M in late April and anothr in June. Obviously don't expect a record breaking time. I'll take it easy and enjoy the journey back.
6er for me this aftrnoon.
Enjoy!
Rambo! Love it!
Mr. Mr.'s butt is healing quite nicely. Love the super antibiotic shot. Means I don't have to shove medication down his throat 2x a day.
And good job on the increasing mileage, Ev. I'm looking forward to your upcoming HMs.
14 muddy miles and a lesson in poor nutrition planning. Tried something new - ugh! Regardless of the fact fruit pies have a whopping 425 calories and, thus, half of one gets you most of your needed calories in an hour and Karen and Kate can eat these things while running like they're going out of style, for me it was wrong, wrong, so very wrong. Which equaled low nutrition and a slog fest from about Mile 9 on. Oh well. Live and learn. Will go back to my tried and true Aussie Bites, avocado and turkey sandwiches, and chocolate covered graham cracker cookies. Ultra Running - where you get to guiltlessly (is that a word?) eat whatever you want . . . almost. . . . . off to find more food . . . .
avacado and turkey sandwich.....mmmmm!
anothr 10spot for me yestrday. I am slightly uncomfortable (mentally) that my weekly miles don't support a 10 miler. I intend to rectify that.....sometime.....somehow.... But I am taking the runs very slowly and I felt quite strong the last couple of outings...so I guess that's how I justify it to myself.
Enjoy evry minute of it, runners!
ev - that's one strange kitty you've got there! And I figure if you're handling the 10 milers, no harm no foul. Agreed that you should probably plug a couple more runs in during the week.
Leslie - I'm always impressed how you make sure to get that cross-training in. You're doing better than most of us, Joe excepted.
DNSd on my race on Saturday, still pooped from my trip and from playing catch-up at work.
Coupla photos. For me it was all about the animals. These were all taken with an inexpensive, point-and-shoot waterproof camera, which tells you something about how close you are to the animals.
These two Galapagos sea lion pups, too cute.
Blue-footed boobies, now I know where the dreamed up Big Bird!
I've seen frigate birds in Mexico, but never displaying. The one with the white head and neck is the female, they cruise around and check out the males. No one knows exactly what the females are looking for, but the males are certainly trying their best to put on a good show!
Red-footed booby chick. If you hand them a stick, they'll toss it up and catch it again!
Swimming with scalloped hammerheads! The guide said they'd be small! They weren't!
The Darwin Research Center is busy breeding tortoises for re-introduction. Tortoise populations took a dent when sailors figured out you could collect them and keep them alive (without food or water) for months, and that they were tasty. This little one really loved the bananas!
Adult tortoise in the wild, just cruisin' down the path.
Sea turtle floating by:
And one on land laying eggs
The famous marine iguanas.
Galapagos hawk checking me out and vice-versa
The 100ft cat that was home for 8 days to 14 guests and 11 crew. It was surprisingly comfortable and I did not get sea sick, although several others did, including two of the crew!
Wow, Arla. Those are some amazing pictures! What an amazing trip to be able to go on.
Ev - You're doing great on your miles. Listen to Coach Arla, and you'll be cruisin' like crazy in no time!
I was suppose to run this a.m., but for some reason I just have a hard time getting up early on Mondays. . . . . Okay, let's be honest. I have a hard time getting up early every morning, but Mondays seem to be especially hard. So no running this morning, and by the time I got off work, it was windy and cold. So I opted for my strength training this evening and will run in the a.m.
Decided today that I'm going all TRX this round of strength training with some exercise ball thrown in for more core. Want to see what the TRX can do for me as opposed to just the free weights or a mix of both. Interestingly, after I did all the exercises on the video, I decided to do bicycle crunches on my exercise ball. My core was so tired, I had a hard time balancing on the ball. First time that's happened, so I guess the core stuff with the TRX is going to be pretty darn good.
Okay - Had dinner, now I need a shower, then hittin' the hay. Nite ~
flatland mountaineer
Just finished taking advantage of a 10 day farming window between storms. Not getting a lot of precip but getting some including snow today so we have improved slightly on the drought status, the timing of the rain and snow events are not exactly convenient but we will take what we can get and work around it. Anyway just maintaining 20mpw base with 8 mi long runs, no particular issues, have had some B E A U T I F U L run mornings weather wise on occasion along with the more typical windy cold spring mornings. Lynda has had some hip issues, and has been doing PT with a local that uses techniques similar to the Hruska clinic PRI methods.
Arla awesome pics, swim with sharks ....no thanks I don't care how big, those Iguanas look pretty cool and I think you needed to turn your head a little more when visiting with the hawk. Sounds like a trip to remember forever.
Ev nice 10 er, If you are staying healthy I wouldn't worry about it. Iam guilty of my long run making up 40-50% of weekly mileage on occasion as sometimes Sundays are the only day I am willing to take that kind of time to run, I did take a little different training approach my last half, partly due to circumstances. I did more shorter runs, never got over 12 miles for a LR and sometimes did like a 6 then an 8 on back to back days instead of a 10-12 miler. Given my training buildup for that attempt my friend Jonathan said he would just do a long run that would put me on my feet for the same time I expected to run the half in. I went just a little longer. I seemed stay healthier and my buildup was slow and consistent. I was real happy with the result although not near as fast as my pr race when I had long runs up to 15 miles but also had the weekly mileage to go with.
Leslie how is the Achilles coming around. I was surprised to hear you were having problems with all the vertical you do. Achilles Tendonitis is one of my chronic things and for me I am especially sensitive to shoe choice. A firm heel works the best for me, just wondering if you had switched shoes? Good job with the TRX, you do such a good job with the X-training.
Hiyas to the rest of the group.
Blizzarding here today so after pushing hard lately we are taking an easy day. :-)
The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!
Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.
Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that? quote from Back to the Fut III
I love your farming pics, Jim.
Re the AT - I have an appointment with the PT tomorrow. I am very surprised this came on since I haven't been doing anything different and have been in the same brand/style of shoes for well over a year now. I think the biggest problem is tight calves. I've been self-massaging the last few days, and that seems to be helping. However, I still want to see the PT and get a professional's opinion as opposed to my "well, I think this is what I should be doing."
4 miles this a.m. They were suppose to be EZ miles, but I pushed it too hard, for whatever reason. It felt good, so I just went with it. Got the carp scared outta me at one point by a noise I heard behind me. Picked up my pace a little bit more. I've been on my guard even more the last week or so after a woman was brutally attacked and sexually molested just a couple of miles from where we live. My pepper spray is constantly at the ready when I run.