Mere Days

Kelsey leaves for school on Thursday. Random people keep asking her if she is ready and of course, the answer is "Yes," as it should be.

Then they ask me and my answer is, "I don't want to talk about it."

I am totally thrilled for her and know she will have an awesome experience. These are things I wouldn't change or take away for a minute. But my own sadness...wow. These kids do work their way into your heart, don't they?

13 and 13

Friday the 13th. I am without a coffeemaker and without a radio in my bathroom.

But even worse than both of those...in 13 days K goes away to school.

I get a pit in my stomach just thinking about it.

Gotta' Love the Cards

At least if you live in St. Louis, you gotta' love the Cards. We managed to get to the ballpark this week. The evening was hot and humid and unfortunately, the Cards lost, but still...a ballgame is a ballgame. And Pujols did hit a beauty of a homerun, which always brings the crowd to its feet. A few photos....

With my guy...

And with my gals...

Of Hikes, Motorcycles, and MINI Coopers!

I am so far behind.

Our week in Colorado was wonderful and included a 10 mile hike in Rocky Mountain National Park that took us to close to an 11,0000 foot elevation. We crossed snow four different times. Absolutely wonderful (though we were feeling the effects a couple of days later in our barking calves!).

This was followed by a 250 mile motorcycle ride that took us over Hoosier Pass and Loveland Pass (so got us to a 12,000 foot elevation). Lots of fun, though not gonna’ lie, by the time we finished my backside was thankful.

Upon coming back to STL we picked up my MINI, named, appropriately enough by K, “Caesar.” I love it!

Next up --- the empty next phase of life, which starts at the end of this month.

Good and Bad News

The good news is my wrist is only sprained.

The bad news is it still requires a splint.

64.8 Miles and Counting

Our paddling adventure thus far is 64.8 miles, from Washington, MO, to Columbia Bottoms in St. Louis County. We have a lot of miles to go - our starting point will be mile 554.4, which is just over the Missouri border.

More Paddling

Sunday was, I believe, our longest paddle trip yet – 24 miles. We started at old St. Charles (picture above was at the starting point) and went to Columbia Bottoms, which is 3.5 miles from the confluence.

Water levels were down significantly, which made putting in a bit of challenge since the ramp was under debris (the picture below) that had been stopped by a pier. This meant we needed to use the bank, which was mud. Think mud, the kind that makes you feel as though it will suck your shoe right off. Nasty stuff. Once we were in and moving, however, the trip was fine. It took us a bit longer than we anticipated since lower water meant a slower current.

But now our trip has covered Washington, MO, to Columbia Bottoms. I’ll update total miles at another time.

Start: St. Charles, MO
Latitude 38°47'19.9"
Longitude 90°28'14.6"

Stop: Columbia Bottoms, St. Louis, MO
Latitude 38° 48’ 41.7865”
Longitude 90° 10’ 53.7157”

Beast and More - My Weekend

The Mini’s paperwork is all done and the little Beast is mine, except that I am having the dealer hold it for a short time. I drove it on Friday and wow – this is going to be fun. I feel a bit decadent, and several people (including my oldest) have called it my mid-life crisis. But crisis or not, it is a fun car that I plan to enjoy for many, many years. And it makes me smile, which in this crazy world is always a good thing!

As for the rest of the weekend, we mostly ran errands on Saturday, but on Sunday enjoyed a little bit of time in Historic St. Charles. We wanted to check out the Missouri River levels since we plan to paddle next weekend and add a bit more distance on to our plan to cross the state. The picture, above, shows how high the water is up, as well as all of the debris in this particular spot. I’d heard that further upstream they had changed water flow levels to alleviate flooding; this shows the effect on our area. We’ll keep an eye on it this week and with any kind of luck, paddle another 20 to 30 mile piece next weekend.

Have I said that I really enjoy Historic St. Charles? There are plenty of small shops, restaurants, and wineries. We found a new place yesterday called called Figuero's, a coffee and food shop. We strolled in accidentally, with the promise checking out their hot sauce collection. It was far more than we anticipated! They have something like 2,000 different hot sauces! Along with all sorts of other seasonings, rubs, salsas, etc. Very cool! Yes, we bought and yes, we even ordered some special stuff. Loved it.

And that was capped by a sampler at a local brew pub while we watched the Cardinals get beat up by the Royals. At least the beer was cold!

Run Around

I haven’t done a running update recently, at least not since the successful half-marathons. Let’s just say, I love running in the summer, and I love running when I am not training for anything.

As for summer, yes, it’s hot and yes, this means I arise super early to knock out a run before the heat gets too out of control. But that’s ok because that means I run almost every day and gosh, does that ever feel good!

As for not training, I’ve had many conversations with many people about this. Many runners I know thrive on having that “goal” in front of them – a new PR in some race or another, a half-marathon, a marathon. They like the carrot that awaits them after weeks of training. I simply don’t need that. I like to run to get outside, to move my limbs, to clear my head, and for any number of other reasons.

Sometimes the reason is simply to see the sites in my little town. On my morning run, I regularly go by a house that is a bit… creepy. It sits low to the ground, as if there is no basement; the lawn us overgrown, though occasionally cut; there is sometimes a trailer, loaded with debris, that is eventually hauled away; seldom are there any lights on. Really, I don’t see many signs of life. But then this morning – there were more than a dozen trash bags on the curb, all ready for pick up tomorrow. What? I spent the next mile on creating the story that goes along with all of that and wondering what was in the trash bags (I’m seriously wondering if there wasn’t a hoarder in the house at some point?).

The mile after that, I started the naming process for my new Mini. I think I have a name picked out, but I have to be properly introduced to know if it fits. (If it does, trust me, you’ll know it soon as well.)

The last two miles were a cacophony of thoughts that had resolved into beautiful quietness by the time I reached my driveway.

So yes, I continue to run and love every minute of not having a carrot, other than my driveway, at the end.

Introduction

Tomorrow I am to be introduced to a beauty that looks like this! Only the one I'm going to meet will be MINE!

Test Drive

Because I don't know what to do with myself, I decided to test drive a Mini Cooper over the weekend. Let's just say, "Wow! What fun!"

Perhaps there is one in my future?

The Thing About Parenting…

The thing about parenting is that you “think” you are all ready to send your child out in the world when she is 18, but then she leaves for a month to work at a totally cool Young Life camp and you are nothing but sad because you know you’ll miss her.

Bit of My Weekend

Our weekend included a very nice paddle on the Missouri River (have I mentioned that this river is becoming my favorite paddling river?). We started in Washington, Missouri and ended at the Weldon Springs Access. Water levels are high – flood stages are listed, below, so the river was quite fast. Given how high the water was we couldn’t really stop (water was at the bottom of most trees so any kind of sandbar was hidden), so we stayed on the water the entire trip. However, the water was also moving pretty quickly, around 5 to 7 mph most of the time. Needless to say, we covered the trip quickly, in right at 4 hours. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon!

Of course, never one to be without a project or goal in mind, I started to talk with M about the idea of traveling the Missouri River from one side of the state to the other. He is game so this may, perhaps, become one of our upcoming goals. Stay tuned!

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Trip Details
Start: City of Washington Boat Ramp. Latitude 38.561471. Longitude 91.01024
Finish: Weldon Springs Access. Latitude 38.6568. Longitude 90.73462
Trip length : 19.7 miles

Flood Stages
Washington, MO
Flood Stage: 20
Stage on June 12: 20.4

St. Charles, MO
Flood Stage: 25
Stage on June 12: 26.2

Predictable...Boring

I fear I am becoming boring and predictable. Lately, when I go into the coffee shop in the morning, the sweet people behind the counter look at me then ask, "Venti decaf with room?"

Yes, they get it perfect. Time after time. This is virtually all I drink and now, I have been in the shop enough that they know me that well.

Maybe I should change it up, throw them off a bit.

Or maybe not since, really, a cup of hot, strong, good decaf is what I really enjoy. One of those simple things in life.

Do You Know What 6 Yards of Mulch Looks Like?

This is 6 yards of mulch, delivered to my driveway bright and early on Friday morning. And by the end of day, completely moved to various parts of my lawn - circling trees, in my flower beds, along my back retaining wall. Finally, my yard is headed to the park-like setting I've always wanted.

Yesterday we rested, while M finished grouting his bathroom floor. (We do know how to have fun, eh?)

And for Mother's Day, we visited K at First Watch and enjoyed a nice lunch before heading to a stroll through the mall for a new watch battery.

Tonight, more resting. My legs are all worn out, not to mention my arms, back, and the sliver in my hand. But it's all good - the yard is on the way to being beautiful!

Half…And Another Half

Way back at the beginning of the year, I posted that M and I were going to do two half-marathons this spring. The Go! St. Louis half-marathon, in our beautiful city of St. Louis, and the Kentucky Derby Half-Marathon in Louisville.

I’m pleased to say, we successfully completed both and earned the beauties showing in the photo. By “successfully completing” I mean that in both races, we 1) ran the entire thing, 2) finished each, and 3) did not get injured. We set our best time for running together in the Go! St. Louis run.

For Louisville, we set our worst time. But for this run we also agreed to go slow and possibly even walk (we didn’t). It was a damp, dark morning, and both of us would have simply stayed in bed, but we had paid our entry fee, driven to Louisville, and doggone it, I wanted that medal (this was my first out of state run). So we rose at 4:30 a.m., drove to downtown Louisville, parked (and hoped we remembered exactly where), and headed to a shuttle bus, which took us to the starting line, a mere 13.1 miles away (though some folks say the run was actually 13.3 miles). We realized we were, at that point, going to have to do this run – we had no idea how to get back to our car without following the crowd!

The weather got better as the run went on. Louisville had a decent crowd – spectators, music, and even a troupe of Elvis impersonators.

After recovering for a couple of hours, we got in the car and drove to the Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whiskey distillery. We missed the last tour group, but did get to jump in on their tasting. I’m really not a hard alcohol gal, but must admit I did enjoy our little taste. To further commemorate our run, I bought a bottle that I got to dip in hot, red wax – the signature Maker’s Mark seal. You can see I’m hard at work in the photo.

On the way back on Sunday, we stopped at a little winery in Indiana. We stopped because of the name – Turtle Run Winery – and found we really enjoyed the wine quite a bit as well!

All in all, I’d call this a good trip. I was definitely ready to be away for a couple of days and did like the new scenery.

Here a Stack, There a Stack, Everywhere a Stack

I realized, just today, that I am a "stacker." I have stacks of stuff, mostly books or at the very least that include a book, everywhere! By my bed, on my dresser, next to my dresser, in my library, in my dining room. Absolutely everywhere. I've also decided it's not a very good decorating trend - the "stack" trend, so am vowing to change my ways.

I started this morning by recycling a number of old magazines that I promised to read, but never quite got to. Then I brought about half a dozen books into work, put them on a table in the break room, and marked them as "free."

Next up, my closet, which has clothes "stacked" on the shelf. Am thinking I will buy some cute bins and use those instead.

And of course, the library, which is a haven for stacks of papers that I need to go through, perhaps want to keep, but never seem to get filed.

If I change my ways now, I suspect M will like it better when we live together. I hope to be a "putter-awayer" by then.

Weekend Tidbits

What an awesome weekend! The weather was beautiful, and we took complete advantage of it.

M’s son graduated from his training program on Friday – hats off to him!

Saturday, M and I took K and the three kayaks to the Missouri River where we floated for 6 hours (about 22 miles). It was absolutely perfect! Beautiful weather, great company – very hard to beat. A bit of a wind and a little sunburn for each of us, but no serious complaints at all. The only question is when can we do it again?

Yesterday we recovered, did some yard work, and took a 6 mile run, in preparation for Louisville and the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon on Saturday. I also baked pound cake and banana bread and made dinner. Must be a springtime energy surge.

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Trip details:
Start: Weldon Springs Access. Latitude 38 39.404. Longitude 90 44.103
Finish: Lewis & Clark Museum St Charles. Latitude 38 46.383. Longitude 90 28.953

Trip length : 19.9 miles.

Way Behind

I'm way behind - it's been a busy 2010, needless to say. Today, a short list of things that make me feel good ---

• Sandals
• Newly painted toes
• Kayak trips
• Cut grass
• A sparkle on my left hand :-)

Friday Quote

A simple quote for a wintry Friday:

"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."
-George Carlin

Still Frosty Cold

The snow and cold continues, which means I continue to run on the dreadmill. I am doing "OK" with it, but I struggle to run more than 35 minutes at a time. And I worry about how my shins will feel once I go back to pavement. In other words, I am missing the great outdoors and definitely have a case of cabin fever.

But despite the dread factor of the dreadmill, I have managed to squeek in two days of speed work. Speed work is NOT my favorite thing. My workouts are not even all that speedy by most people's standards. But at least the change in pace does help to keep me entertained. I suspect if I were someone who enjoyed watching tv that time on the dreadmill might not be so challenging, but I am just not much of a tv watcher. (Though admittedly, I do better at M's house since I can flip channels; in the gym, the programs are set by the staff.)

With any kind of luck, we'll see a slight warm-up this weekend. In the meantime, these are things I'm looking foward to:

• Valentine's Day
• Fat Tuesday (just because I like the name!)
• St. Patrick's Day Run (March 13)
• March Hoops
• Cardinals Baseball

Even Potholes Can’t Keep Me Down

Yesterday, we had a bit of snow/slush. But after I got off work, it was 33 degrees and I was feeling restless after a couple of days on the dreadmill, so I headed out for a run. I wanted to log a 6-miler. For whatever reason, it was important to me to know I could do the distance. Six miles means I am covering almost half the distance of a half-marathon and that is good for my mental state.

I headed out shortly after 5 in the evening. It was still somewhat light, but I knew darkness would be coming so I took my handy little light with me. This is more so others see me than so I can see the ground. About two miles into the run I turned it on.

I was cruising along pretty nicely. I felt great. I’ve been spending more time in the gym on strength and stretching. Lots of weights, lots of core exercises. Plus, my recent dreadmill work has included speed and hills. I don’t think I was panting even a little bit.

Then, at about mile three, I took a tumble. Ergh. Where the road butts up against the curb, there was a apparently a hole. It was filled with water from the snow so I didn’t see it and down I went. I stood up and shook it off, and tried to decide where I hurt. My left knee landed on the pavement so it was a bit sore; my right ankle was definitely sore, since it was the one that landed in the hole and that I rolled over. I walked about a half-block, debating what next. I didn’t have my phone with me. I did have phone numbers on my ID band, but I was nowhere near a phone. And the loop I was running meant I was three miles from home, even if I circled back.

So I did what all runners do and attempted to run. Really, my ankle felt ok. And my knee didn’t hurt, so I suspected it was only scraped a little bit. Since I had pants on it was somewhat protected.

Long and short of it, I finished the six miles and made it home. When I cleaned up, I noticed that I did put a small hole in the knee of my running pants (which is a bad thing since these are my warmest pair) and also noticed that my knee was quite a bit more scraped than I had anticipated. I put a band-aid on my knee and also a wrap on my ankle, which I then elevated for the evening.

In other words, despite a moment of excitement and dread, it’s all good. I am not too injured, just a bit sore, and I finished the run. And the run, overall, felt really good and makes me almost think that I’ll be able to run at least one of these half-marathons at close to the two-hour mark. Of course, there is quite a bit more to go before we see if the goal becomes reality.

Hills - You Gotta' Love 'Em!

The weather has improved enough so that, for the last two weeks, I have been able to run outside and also sneak in a few walks with Mr. Jake. He appreciates the good weather as much as I do!

Training for the upcoming half-marathons started this week and today was the speed workout. Since I don't have easy access to a track, I instead opted to run hills.

What was I thinking? Well, hmmm....a friend who is a runner and slightly older than me, has put up some pretty solid half-marathon times. She assures me that being diligent about hills will help my speed, so I'm trying it.

And besides, as hard as hills are, a track is tougher. My "wall," if you will, is long stretches of endless asphalt. A track fits into that category. So while hills may be tougher physically, for me, a track workout is much tougher mentally. Perhaps even tougher than the dreadmill.

Today's hills were not awful, but would have been better had I not walked 2 miles on Saturday, run 4 miles and walked 3 miles on Sunday, and done a leg weight and squat workout on Monday. Ah well.

Can You Say Cold?

Oh my gosh – we have had cold and wind and a bit of snow and precious little sun. Granted, it is worse in other parts of the country, so I really shouldn’t complain. Instead, these are the things that I like about winter…

• A fire in the fireplace – is there anything more cozy?
• A warm, down-filled blanket
• Homemade chili
• Scarves!
• Fresh baked cookies
• Catching up on movies

One thing I’m not such a fan of is the treadmill. Dread-mill. Ugh. But at least for this week I’ve been diligent. I find that if I entertain myself I can do better so I’ve come up with two workouts that I tolerate pretty well:

Workout 1: 8 to 10 minute warm up then 3 sets of 3 x 3 repeats. 3 minutes at a fast clip, 3 minutes slow and repeat 3 or 4 times. End with an 8 to 10 minute cool down.

Workout 2: 8 to 10 minute warm up then hill repeats. 2 minutes at a pretty sharp incline (5 to 7 range); 2 minutes slow run or fast walk and repeat for 4 or 5 times. End with an 8 to 10 minute cool down. (I did this one yesterday and woke up in the middle of the night when the snow plow went by; I jumped and the back of both of my legs cramped up. Ouch!)

I’ve also taken advantage of the rest of the gym a bit more this week and have been doing more strength and core work. If I can remain diligent throughout the spring I may be able to reach my goal of a faster half-marathon.

Do Two Halves Make A Whole?

In most cases, yes, but not in the world of a runner. That’s ok, I’m going to do two half-marathons anyway, even if I can't count them as a full-marathon.

After last year, when I ran a half in June and another in September, I vowed “never more.” Apparently, I lied.

I’ve been wanting to run the Go! St. Louis Half-Marathon for a few years now, but it seems I was always traveling with one of the girls for volleyball. Not this year, so I am signed up to run this event on April 11. As is M. As are both of the girls. We’ll make it a great big family event!

And two weeks later (April 24), there is the Kentucky Derby Half-Marathon, for which I am also now signed up. This is one I’ve known of for several years and have wanted to run like no other. I mean, it takes you into Churchill Downs – how cool is that?! M is going to accompany me on this one. It’s been a good many years since I’ve been to Louisville and I’m not sure he’s ever been, so we’ll probably make a long weekend out of it as well.

One small problem as of late is the frightful cold that St. Louis is encountering, just like many other parts of the US. I’ve never been a fan of the cold, but usually if it’s above freezing and not all too windy, I will venture outside for a run. But not in this current weather – a high of 19 with a NW wind. Brrr…. This means I am trying to keep my miles up via the treadmill, which is not my favorite thing by a long shot. I’ve been a road runner for years, after all. I did find a couple of treadmill workouts that I hope will entertain me a bit, or at the very least take my mind off running in one place for 30 to 40 minutes. And with any kind of luck, in a week or two the weather will improve, if only slightly. Otherwise, I’m going to have to challenge myself to extend my run beyond 40 minutes, and that will be a true challenge for me.

Finally, here is one resolution. I resolve to run two half-marathons. With any kind of luck, one will be faster than my previous PR (2:03:xx).