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.