Happy Birthday Camille

Sharing my birthday with some of the Bunco Babes - Grace, me, Carol and Krista

Tick tock the clock is really ticking now. In twenty-four months this will all be over! Friday was my birthday, 48th (or as Mr. Poole would say "Well, you're in your 49th year now"), and I spent it with the bunco babes in Florida. They didn't realize when they arrived at Lynn D.'s house that they were going to be celebrating my birthday, but they rose to the occassion and helped me have a great time.

I didn't do a birthday run, but the next day when I got back to NC I did some good hill work. I actually made it up the Jackie Robinson hill three times and worked on sprinting up the hill instead of just dragging up as I've done in the past. It has turned hot in NC again so last week I had to workout inside. I'm trying to mix up hill work, sprints and runs longer than 3.1 miles. I did a 4.5 mile treadmill run one day and it felt pretty good. The pace wasn't very fast but I want to get up to six miles before the summer.

As you can see I've registered for a number of races for the winter months. I'm still looking for races in Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico during the months of November through March. If you see anything that looks like fun, drop me a line and let me know. Also, I've decided that my final race in September 2011 will be in Minnesota, probably in the Minneapolis area. Put it on your calendar and plan on joining me for the final run and big celebration.

Race #8

One more state checked off the map! I ran the Navy Federal Credit Union 5K in Vienna, Virginia Saturday. I debuted the new shirt and got a few good comments about the "Dead freakin' last.........." saying on the back.

I want to thank my friend Rachel D. for being my travelling companion for this race - she's the one on the left:She had never been to a race before so the experience was all new. She got lucky as the Navy Federal Credit Union 5K was a great race. The venue was great, the volunteer effort was phenomenal and the participants were a great bunch of people.

The night before the race Rachel and I went out to dinner at Da Deminico a local Italian restaurant, I recommend it highly. I had the tutti de mare and must say it was fantastic. The sauce was just spicy enough but not overpowering. Upon our return we got in the elevator with two guys and a girl and I heard them talking about a race they were running the next day. I kept my mouth shut, for once, as I just sensed these guys weren't going out to run a 5K. As we went up one by one they got off the elevator until we were alone with one small wiry guy with curly dark hair. He mentioned to Rachel and me that he was going to be running in a 50 mile race the next day. I immediately piped up that well I was going to be running in a 5K the next day!! He gave me a grin, a big high-five and wished me luck. I then explained to Rachel that these guys were the real runners and truly crazy! He liked the description!

Race day dawned too soon. I had a completely restless night, I know that I looked at the clock every hour. What was doubly frustrating was that the bed was unbelievably comfortable and the linens superb. Left the hotel with temps in the low 60's, clear skies and no rain. We got to the course with plenty of time to sign in and scope out the competition.

I didn't have my watch with me and I think I might have done better because of that. I really tried to just focus on having a good time. The course was rather flat, the uphills were all at a rather gradual slope. I waved at anyone who was standing along the route to cheer us on (not many), thanked all the course marshals and policemen who stopped traffic, and got a good laugh out of the young girls cheering toward the end when I requested high fives from them as I ran by! Yes, I've become the queen of self promotion!

My time ended up at 34:16 and I really had a great time running! The one time I did start to sag, I thought about the curly haired guy in the elevator who had been running for a couple hours already and still had hours to go before he finished his 50 miles. 34 minutes was hardly a warm up for him! I spent most of the race running with this tall girl in a pink top. I stayed with her up until the last half mile when she got an extra kick and I didn't. I found her after the race and thanked her for helping motivate me to run the entire time and not walk.

At the finish line and still smiling!!

Not sure exactly what this is, we think it's a mouse!

I got a call from my brother Craig on Sunday wondering why I hadn't called him before and after the race as I've done previously - oops, my bad! He agreed that I needed to shake up my training a bit if I ever hoped to get my time faster. I'm going to do some speed work and also start building up to five or six mile runs instead of calling it quits at 3.1 miles!

Next race - Hartford, Connecticut

The T-shirt is here

Thanks to Lisa R. for supplying me with the quote for the back and thanks to here husband David for the photography.

I'll be debuting the shirt at my race this weekend in Vienna, Virginia. I've certainly become the queen of self-promotion!

Running for the joy of it

I started running outside this week. The temperature got below 80 as did the humidity. I also wanted to work on running for the simple joy of running and knew I couldn't achieve that on the treadmill.

So my first day out, I grabbed a cookie in each hand and decided to run to my friend Rachel D.'s house. Rachel's house isn't far from my mom's house and is in the same neighborhood as my elementary school, Club Boulevard Elementary. Getting to her house meant I couldn't avoid some hills and instead of dreading them I just ran up them, no more whining.

All week I've stopped at Rachel's house but she hasn't been home so I kept on running. I ran through the park, past the school and down various streets in the area. It has truly been a run down memory lane. I went down Colgate Avenue and remembered that one of the first friends I made when moving to Durham was Marcie C. She was also the first person I knew whose parents got divorced. At ten years old I understood what divorce was but couldn't imaging it happening to anyone I knew - times sure have changed! Running over Ellerbee creek reminded me of the deer I saw one morning walking to school with Mike C. No one believed us until we went down in the creek and showed them the deer tracks. I remembered yelling when walking under the highway bridge just to hear the echo. I remember playing pillow polo in Northgate park when in junior high and the coach was being stalked by a former boyfriend who would come to the park and sit on the hood of his car and stare at her the entire time, my first introduction to truly creepy behavior.

Overall the runs have been fun and I'm enjoying myself again. Looking forward to my next race in Vienna, Virgina on September 19th no matter how ready I am. I've added a section in the blog to list races I've registered for. If you have any suggestions of upcoming races that look like fun, let me know.

Oh, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered my t-shirt. I'll get a picture of it as soon as it comes in. You can have one by just signing up to run with me at one of the races!