Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Nancy. I decided to retire early and my last day at the Fire District was December 31, 2020. My dream to do this pigs 'n poultry thing full time started on January 1, 2021. So far so good...
My non-New Balance shoes have proven to be a very good shoe! It took a couple of weeks to get used to these neutral shoes as they are not as rigid as my stability shoes and I think that fact may have messed with my mind a little (as well as my body).
However, in the last couple of weeks I have noticed how much better I feel during our training runs. Up until about a couple of weeks ago, I had experienced tired calves early during our runs as well as feeling very sluggish toward the end of the run. The past couple of weeks have felt GREAT! I almost feel as if I have a little more bounced in my step!
This morning as we started through Shorecrest Tom noted that I was doing great...I shushed him because I felt that would jinx the goodness that I was experiencing. I've always thought that if I am having a good run that it is a fluke and that it won't happen again. We'll see, this week has been pretty good so far. Just one more training run (8 miles) and we are another week closer to the North County Wine Run.
the shorty blip on the 19th was a walk...not a run...no running streak happening right now
All in all, if you need a neutral shoe and Brooks works for you, I would highly recommend the Ghost 7.
Another week of training has started and this week we add Thursday into the mix. Actually we have been off scheduled a little and have been doing Thursday runs anyway AND meeting with Mary too, so it's really not that much of a difference, but it is a change in how I will view each training day.
I HAVE to get up on Monday and run! Which really means I need to get to bed around 8 or 8:30 to fall asleep at a respectable hour to get enough sleep AND wake up well before it's time to run. I'll take a melatonin to get me heading to bed at an appropriate time.
SO - this morning was good! Yesterday was an okay day - I had put off our long run from Saturday to Sunday because I had a headache that just didn't want to go away. I had decided that we should run the new 139th Street Overpass. My initial thought was to run to 20th Avenue and then turn around and go back over. Once we got to the other side, it seemed wrong to not do a little loop before heading back home on 139th. There is brand new sidewalk on 134th Street between 20th and the on-ramp to I-5 North. So that was pretty cool. The rest of the route was pretty standard, going past the Fire Station, Fred Meyer and all the other stuff between Freddy's and our house. In the end we did 5.63 in 1:15:27 - according to my nike+ sport watch my pace was 13:34. I'll take it! I wasn't really expecting better than that. I'm just thrilled that it wasn't closer to 14!
Last week was really just a off week and now that it is past us, this week will be brand new and I will give all I've got to each run. A quote that continually goes through my mind while we are out is:
This is so true, this morning I decided that I would run farther than the turn around point and actually made it back to the sub-division before I stopped to walk. Today IS an easy day after all!
Our week of running has started off well and it looks like hills on Wednesday! It's been a few weeks since we have done hills...OYE...
a Polynesian woman or wife, especially in Hawaii or New Zealand.
Mary, Kristen, Me & Julie
Today was the day! Mary's first "real" running event put on by AA Sports. Technically, this one is her 3rd, but this is a biggie put on by AA Sports in Portland and they do a pretty nice job putting on a multisport event - I love coming to Blue Lake and haven't been since 2011 and now I'm itchin' to get back into all three sports.
BUT...this is about Wahine.
The power went off at our house right when we were getting ready to leave so it was perfect. Coffee, showers and breakfast all done so not a big deal. Off we went to pick up Mary...we ALMOST made it a quarter mile down the road from her house when I remembered that I didn't grab my watch. Dang! Back home we go!
We met up with Mary's co-worker right after we parked it and then we became a trio. As we were milling around Kristen arrived and we all got to hang out for a while before the Du and Tri races started. While we were getting our race bibs and timing chips on another woman came up to where we were and we eventually all were chillin' together waiting for the action to start.
The Duathlon started at 8 a.m. so we saw Kristen off before heading over to the lake to watch the different waves of swimmers get started. After watching several of the wave getting started, the first swimmer was getting ready to come through the finish chute to the transition area...then pretty soon the Duathletes were coming through and about 30 minutes into the race we saw Kristen come through...looking pretty fresh really.
Now it's 8:30 and us 5k'ers make our way to the start for our race. Oh, I had decided a few minutes before that since Mary and Julie would be run/walking together that I would try to race this morning...just for the fun of it.
The race started and I actually felt pretty good for about a half mile. Then we hit the ratty beat up bike trail and it was HOT. Holy Cow! I KNOW that it gets warm going out, but this morning had to be the warmest race yet! I'm thinkin' that I might want to train a little during the warmer part of the day...somehow. So, I ended up walking...A LOT! Kind of like the last time I was there with Robin (but I had to do the run twice then). It was slow going, but once we made it past the turn-around it wasn't that terribly anymore.
So, my race ended up being just over 44 minutes and I was probably 5 minutes ahead of Mary & Julie. So after getting some water Tom and I made our way down to the other side of the finish to look for Mary...I spot both of them while they were still a distance off and met them as they were coming up the last little hill getting ready to turn to the finish. Mary wasn't looking that happy at that point and she did a little running and a little walking and a little running and finally ran through the finish arch. She did it! She finished her first 5k race put on by a bonafide race organization!
Finally...done!
Seriously - why are you point that at me?
Yaay Julie and Mary!
Almost there!
For me it always take a few minutes to realize what just happened, but since I have a few races behind me, I know that what I'm doing is fun - even if I don't feel like it is. Well, this was true with Mary as well...after hydrating a bit and catching her breath she said she had fun! Yahoo!
I'm so proud of Mary - she worked toward this goal, it was a little scary and seemed a little out of reach, but with some encouragement and a couple of other opportunities to be in a race situation, she did it! One day she is going to be quite the athlete and I'll probably be trying to out stay ahead, but I'll be there cheering her on and celebrating too.
So, for next year I'm thinking that we should do the Duathlon as a team with me doing the first run and ride and Mary finishing us up!
