A Moonlight Serenade...

Well this week the schedule said we were suppose to do 12 miles on Saturday. Didn't we just do 14 miles last Saturday? Man, the time is getting closer and now the rubber is really meeting the road. This was not a good week at all for me in regards to getting miles on my legs. Between the excitement of the arrival of Baby Lyric, getting ready for my group's presentation for school, the president of our company coming into town, and other work related tasks, I only got roughly 2.5 miles in so far. I was looking forward to Saturday, but then, we hear the forecast. Heat advisory from Saturday until next Wednesday. Temperatures with heat index up to 110 degrees. Yikes!

But Saturday DH and I were determined to get out there. Only one small snag. My BIL made plans for that morning, so we were without a babysitter. Never want to assume that BIL can babysit. He has a life. It's our responsibility to check in with him first. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be able to even consider a marathon, so no sweat on that one. We said we'd just go out Saturday night and run.

Well, Saturday night was HOT so that notion was scratched. Sunday was going along, and I kept asking if we were going out this evening. DH didn't answer. Then around 8:45 pm he says, "If you want to go out, you'd better hurry up." Wow! A night run. I was a little nervous, but I got dressed and got in the car to conquer the night.

We had the park to ourselves and it was humid with a capital H. We barely spoke as we jogged and walked the course. All I heard was the pounding of the pavement and the chirping of the crickets while the moon followed us around the park. At our pace, we would have been there until midnight if we did the entire 12, so we decided to do just one lap around. I figure six is better than zero. Plus with the heat and humidity we needed to get back. But I'm proud that I was able to keep up with him for the most part. Maybe he was going slow on my behalf, but I couldn't let him out of my site since it was dark out there. :)

So here's how we did.

6 miles 1:27:30 14:35 min/mile pace...

I conquered my first mountain

It was a mountain to me but to others it is a hill. It's a steep hill but a hill none the less.

I did not get out there on yesterday because the night before I was at the hospital with my dear friend, hubby and family. She was in labor with her beautiful daughter, Lyric. I didn't get to witness the event, but I hung out as long as I could. By 2:00 am, I had to leave.

When I arrived home had power. But when I woke up, our power was out and I was too tired to do anything. That evening, I went to the hospital to get my "baby fix" and extend more congrats to the mom and dad. Our power came back on midway yesterday afternoon, so I just got milk, sandwich meat and minimal things to tie us over until I make the true shopping list. We have to pretty much replace everything. But it's still good to have a list just the same.

But today, I was up and at them at 6:15 am. I decided to stay in my neighborhood today instead of going to the park. So I ran the first 10 minutes straight through which included the mountain.

I call it a mountain because back in the early months, this hill was highly avoided by everyone in our house. To even walk it is somewhat of a strain. When I was running for 30 seconds, I only got half way through it and had to walk the rest completely out of breath. It's a HILL.

So when I got to the bottom of the hill, my thoughts were to just see how far I could go. "I ran and I ran and I ran." (You've got to also use the Forest Gump accent too) until I reached the top of the hill. I was like, Wow! I've come a long way. God is good. With doing that hill twice, I ran to the park, which is 1/2 mile from the house. By then, I needed to get back home since the big shots are coming into work today, so only tracked 2.5 miles today.

Here are the stats.

2.5 miles 44:03 More walking recovery after the hill time.
Pace: 17:37 min/mile (WHOA!! I need some help).

The 14 miler...

Well, as I write this, we are still without power. I'm typing this from the St. Louis Bread Company. They have expensive soup and sandwiches, but FREE Wi-Fi and electricity to charge my phone. This power thing is just a minor inconvenience compared to what could have happened. I'm thankful that our house is not damaged from the storm and my family and friends are safe. Also, we do have places to go to get a break from the heat. So, this is just a test of patience as we approach day 4 without electricity.

But on yesterday, one could not ask for a more perfect day to run. The weather at 6:00 am was in the mid 60s. Since it was so cool and also since our coach was not going to be there this time, we decided to get a late start. So we go to the training site at 7:30 to start the 14 miler. DH and I made our first lap of Forest Park. All was well and I was on pace. We even ran into another teammate who just finished. He commented on how amazed at the ease of the run. I really believe that pressing through the humidity helped in more ways than we realized. But as we started on the second set of 6 miles, I began to slow down. I was walking a whole lot more that I needed to and at one point I saw DH move farther and farther in front of me. Finally, I could not see him at all, and I knew I was on my own.

I ran through walk breaks and walked mid way through run times. My whole pace time was off. But I finished the second lap. As I approached the end of the second lap, I saw DH and told him that I would wait for him at the car as he finished the final two miles. I'm disappointed in myself for not completing the remaining two miles, but I'm determined to finish our 15 miler even more so now. I'm really learning a lot about myself in this whole process...

With that, here's what happened.

First 6 miles. 1:20.02 13:20 min/mile pace
Second 6 miles. 1:29.00 14:50 min/mile pace

Overall 2:49.02 14:05 min/mile pace...

Latest happenings

Well yesterday it was still hot and I was still drenched. Did the 3 miles in 39:51. That's about a 13:17 min/mile pace.

Today, I needed to get in the office extra early to meet with someone concerning work. And I have to go home to finish studying for my final tonight. So no running for me today. We have our 14 miler on Saturday. Stay tuned...

A nice cool breeze...

Well got out there this morning around 6:30 am. Ran through the first mile in 11:55 and did the 4:1 for the remaining two miles in 27:58. Total for 3 miles was 39:53. I had a nice breeze but it was still muggy. I didn't check the temp, but I did have to stop a couple of times.

So total pace time is 13:17 min/mile. I'm still hovering between the low 13's and high 12's. I can't wait to stay in the 12 minute range.

It's like a heat wave...

Well this weekend was a scorcher. On Saturday, I attempted to do my 8 miles. Walked to the park to start off and got distracted by a garage sale.

I just so happened to have money on me and got a nice camcorder for CHEAP. I was too excited as I left my deposit for the camcorder and proceeded to the park. It was around 7:45 am. Temperature 77 degrees and 99% humidity. I completed my first mile and had to stop, but was doing great on time. By mile 2, I remembered that I needed some milk for the boys' breakfast, so in a walk break I called DH, who was on his way home from running an errand.

Me: "Where are you?"
DH: "On my way home, why?"
Me: "Can you stop by the store and get some milk?"
DH: "Where are you?"
Me: "On mile number 2 and it's hot."
DH: "I thought we were going to go out this evening when it cooled down?"
Me: "We were? I thought I mentioned that I just wanted to get this out of the way. Did I mention that it's hot?"
DH: "Stop, don't you know it's hot out there. Where are you now?"
Me: "I'm stopping and waiting for you to pick me up.."

And so he picked me up and I went home to prepare breakfast for my family, with no milk either. :)

And did we make it out that evening? No, because it was hot... I think I've said that before. On Saturday the temperature got up to 95 with heat index of 99 and 99% humidity. Heat advisory. No one was outside at all.

DH did his 3 miles on yesterday at 9:30 pm. So we didn't do the 8 and we have another group run on Saturday..

Prayerfully, this weather will let up. Our coach said to just stick with the schedule. If we miss one week on the long runs then it's ok. Stay tuned.

A little improvement

Ok, hit the park around 6:10 am. At 6:05, temp was 74 with 99% humidity. Last night I was talking to my friend about how hard the previous day's workout was. She pretty much told me to "Suck it up. It's summer. Deal with it." Of course, she didn't say it that way, but that's how I heard it. And I needed to hear it that way, too.

Ran the first mile non stop. I was drenched. Did my 4:1 intervals for the remaining two miles. By mile 3 I just wanted to get in my car and go home, but then I kept hearing, "Chicago. Flat course. October. No 99% humidity. This humidity is actually to your advantage." So I kept going. I even had to get a drink from the water fountain, but I kept going.

Time. (roughly) 38.28 (12:49 min/mile)
Ran mile 1 11:47.

So it was a good day. :)

The air was so thick...

Well I skipped yesterday. My 7th grade science teacher, Mr. Turk, would always say "Excuses are only made to satisfy yourself." but honestly, these are valid ones, at least I think so.

Excuse #1. It was raining too hard. At 6:30 am, it was a downpour at our house and the bed was not letting me go. So I said, I'll do it in the afternoon.

Excuse #2. I got a call from my dear friend who's about to become a mother any day. She asked me to take her to her hospital tour since her hubby had to work late.
Here's the conversation.
"Hey"
"Hey, What's up."
"You doing anything tonight?"
(Thought..Well I was planning on running since it rained on me this morning but..)"No, why?"
"Well, was wondering if you wanted to go on this hospital tour with me.."
and the rest as they say is history. So that's why I skipped.

Now, today, was a different story. Woke up and got to the park at 6:30 am. Ran my first mile straight through at 11:40 then did the 4:1 on the rest. I was thinking that this run was extremely hard. Maybe because I took 2 days off, but it was just tough. Well I finished in 41:53 (13:56 mile/min pace) and then I called time/temp when I got in the car. It was 76 degrees with 99% humidity. Can you believe that. That's part of the reason. So I don't feel too bad about my time. Whew...

long run weekend of 8 july

Well this has been a not so good week for me and the long run. Hubby got out yesterday to complete his 13 miles. I am so proud of him. Since we had relatives in from out of town, it was not right for both of us to be out in the morning. So I stayed behind. I did do 6 miles this evening. Still a long way from 13. I will do 10 miles next weekend to get somewhat caught up. Then the following week will be our 14 miler with the group.

So rest and back at 'em on Tuesday....

How do you chew an elephant?

One bite at a time. Well I skipped yesterday because I was exhausted from the 4th. We had a blast with our friends and neighbors. So got up this morning. The weather was great. I would say high 60s. I hit the course at 6:35 am and wanted to see just how long I could run. Well, I finished my first mile without taking a break. That was in about 11 minutes. Then came miles 2 and 3. Mile 2, I was moving pretty good, then I felt the needle begin to tip, tip, tip. By mile 3 I was almost on fumes, but I ran to the finish point. I'm just happy that I was able to complete that first mile non-stop. One mile at a time...

Anyway, I finished in 41:50. That's 13:56. So looks like the walk breaks really do help in terms of my pace.

Looks like I've been tagged

Wanna-be-5K-er tagged me. I'm tagging anyone who reads this and has a blog. It's pretty fun.

4 Jobs I've Had:
1. Retail Associate at Rainbow store
2. Student stuffer/filer/courier
3. ESL instructor (volunteer, but I count that)
4. Computer Programmer


4 Movies I Watch Over and Over:
1. Sound of Music
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. ????
4. Don't watch a lot of movies!

4 Places I Have Lived:
1. Boynton Beach, FL
2. College
3. Home
4. Where I am now…

4 TV Shows I Watch:
1. American Idol
2. Design on a Dime
3. Design To Sell
4. The Backyardigans (Hey, I have kids)


4 Places I've Been on Vacation:
1. Ghana
2. Seattle
3. Florida
4. New Haven

4 Websites I Visit Everyday:
1. Google
2. Blogger
3. CoolRunning
4. Yahoo Groups

4 Favorite Foods:
1. Pizza
2. Mexican.
3. Chinese
4. Chocolate


4 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. Florida
2. Australia
3. Grand Canyon
4. I'm actually glad I'm here:)

4 Favorite Bands/Singers:
1. Whitney Houston (Before the Bobby Brown Influence)
2. CeCe Winans (with BeBe and also solo)
3. Fred Hammond
4. Harry Connick Jr.

4 Favorite Books
1. Captivating by John & Staci Elderedge
2. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
3. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
4. Not been able to read like I’d like.

My First 5K

Well I finished my first 5K (3.1 Miles) on yesterday. I can proudly say that I was not last.

The day started with a phone call from my friend who was to run with me. Like we agreed she called at 5:00 am for the wake up call. Both my alarm and the phone rang at the same time. When I answered, I got some bad news. Her grandmother suffered a light stroke the night before. She received the word just one hour after I talked to her on the phone. She was exhausted and naturally would not be able to make the race. I listened to her and we talked some more, but you know what she was doing. Encouraging me to get out there and not be late. What a good friend.

So my BIL and I headed out around 5:45 AM. The race started at 7:00 but BIL needed to register. We got there around 6:15 and he registered without a hitch.

By race time, there was one wheelchair participant. That was very inspiring. He finished the course in 15 minutes. That's right 15 minutes. What strength!

We started at the end of the pack as the gun went off. There were around 330 people there and just to see the people ahead of me was very nice to see. Then I imagined that this had nothing on Chicago with 40,000 people crossing the starting line. Wow.

By the 1/2 mile mark, I felt that I moved too fast. Charles was already ahead of me and making the loop turn. I cheered him on. That was the last time I saw him until I crossed the finish line.

All in all it was a good time. I finished in 41:13. That's a 13:16 min/mile pace. So, now my goal is to run straight through. I believe that will increase my pace time for the overall marathon training.

I plan on getting out tonight and start on my goal of running straight through.

Long Run -- kinda

Well this weekend had it's twists and turns. I was suppose to do 9 miles on Saturday, but instead did work around the house until late afternoon. So in the late afternoon, I went with my BIL and two sons (ages 2 and 4) to the park to "run". Instead, I walked two laps and let my my 4 year old run ahead of me. He was too excited to be "exercising". He even insisted on brining his Gatorade so he wouldn't be thirsty. Meanwhile the 2 year old was in the stroller enjoying himself with legs cross like a king. It was a good time even though my "run" was squashed. I was really enjoying myself with them. "Look Mama, we're on tv." Was the reply when I told my big boy that he was running like an Olympian. I thought that would wear him down, since he has A LOT of energy. But after his bath on Saturday, he was still talking about how he got out there and "exercised." Maybe this will be a good habit for them to start.

So I got up on Sunday to get in my 9 before church. It was a cool start to the morning unlike our 97 degree weather on Saturday. I had a time limit, so I knew I couldn't get the whole 9 in. So I did a run/walk of 6 and walked one mile straight back to my car. I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Sunday morning. So not a wasted mile at all for me anyway.

Now my BIL and hubby are going to do the 9 as I post this. They are pretty pumped. I'm glad I already did mine. Well kinda... :)

BTW, the 6 was done in 1:24 so that's 14 min/mile exactly. I will be so glad when I get out of this time crunch for these long runs... It will come.