Miles and Miles to go....and already went

Last night I hit 450 miles logged (since I started running 7/7/07) and after this weekend I'll be at 300 miles for 2008!

WOW - that's a lot of running!

And it really doesn't seem to be that difficult anymore.

Viv and Timmy both commented on how I just glazed over 9 miles in my last post. Really, I didn't think of it as that big of a deal. That's what was on tap for that day, so that's what I did. 5:45 start time and all.
Dang - I just said 9 miles was no big deal!

Now once I hit double digits (like Eileen just did) in a couple of weeks (9/13), THAT will be a big deal.

Whew - tiring weekend!

Saturday morning I had to wake up at 4:45 to run 9 miles and Sunday was an even earlier wake-up, 4:15, to go deep sea fishing.

I was exhausted, but had a great time doing both!

Saturday afternoon I was complemented on my complexion (a result of the 9-miler, I'm sure) and I have about 5 pounds of fish in the freezer from the fishing trip.

After eating so much fish in Alaska and then last week had mahi-mahi almost every night, I'm getting close to being fished-out! Last night after Pilates I stopped at the store and got corn tortillas and shredded cabbage to make fish tacos, but I was still plumb tuckered-out from the lack of sleep over the weekend that I was just too tired to make some. And tonight it speed work (yea!) and a BCO event leader meeting, so they won't be made tonight either. Maybe tomorrow after off-season PIM....

Speed training, Fartleks & Orienteering

run, Run, RUN

This speed stuff isn't as bad as I thought it would be!

Tuesday the track workout was a bit intemeditating. Luckily I recognized one of my back-of-the-pack half-marathoners that told me we usually divide up from the full group. Whew! There were only about 6 of us halfers there (and about 40 in the other group). I did have a hard time running all-out (which is still rather slow) ALL the way around the track, trying to stay at the same pace. My running buddy kept me encouraged and I made it. Our slow jogs were actually walks. We got all 6 sets in - earlier I had e-mailed with the head coach that gave me an out saying I may only do 4 sets. At the end there was a mix of pride that I did it, but disappointment that I felt I did it rather poorly. (My fasts were the same as others slows - sometimes I was even slower than them.)

Wednesday I was feeling good from doing the track workout that I decided to through some fartlek-ing into my normal easy run. (All my runs thus far have been easy. I have two speeds - slow and stop.) It was fun! I would run all-out to a light pole, then walk to the next, etc. I know I probably wasn't doing this totally right. But hey, "fartlek" means speed play and I was speedy and playing! I did do too much and had to walk home instead of jog.

Thursday was the monthly Social-O, so that was once again some speed work in between stopping to find the controls. At the end I did a mini-hill so I could mentally pat myself on the back for hill work too.

Today is rest day -- yea!!

Tomorrow is NINE miles bright and early at 5:45 am.....

Alaska pics!

Here's some pics from my trip!

On my first-ever whitewater rafting experience, I "rode the bull!" But initially got bucked off good - I'm the one laying on the bottom of the raft in this shot:

We did a 1/2 hour or so lecture on how to stay in the boat, how dangerous it would be to fall out, where to keep your feet under straps so you stay in, etc. Then we had to practice strokes to be sure we were all prepared for the dangers that lay ahead. We were warned about the first rapid and told to pay attention. Right before we got to the rapid, the guide asked "Who's gonna ride the bull?" Huh? What the heck is he talking about. Riding the bull is sitting on the very front of the raft with your legs on the outside and a rope up between your legs and trying to stay on, just like riding a bucking bull. "Right" we thought -- We were just told how dangerous this rafting in Class III-IV is and now he's saying this - surely he jests. Nope. He was serious. And at the last second I said I would. It took so long to get over the big tubes to the front that by the time I got there I was never on good before we hit the first of the rapid, so I spent the entire run on the bottom of the raft getting hit in the face with 33 degree water. At one point I started to panic since I couldn't take a breath, but luckily I had enough sense to put my head down and block my face with my arm so I could breathe.

It was so much fun!

Later I got up before we went in to a rapid to get used to the feeling of hanging off the front of the raft and then was able to stay on through the rapid - it was a blast!

The last day we went hiking on a glacier, which was seriously cool:

I had some thicotropic glacier mud on my nose to keep from getting sunburned.

We also rafted past the Spencer glacier which had several super neat icebergs in the water. Since it was cloudy, the ice looked bluer!


I think this iceberg looks like a frog.

In Anchorage, we went to the Seavy dogsled experience where the did a little skit/show about sled dogs and the Iditrod. Mitch Seavy won a couple of years ago. His son was in the show who is the youngest person to compete in the Iditrod (or something like that).

The best part was petting the sled dogs and getting to hold the adorable sled dog pups!

I'm here!

In case anyone wondered, I'm still here!

Alaska was great except for the weather -- CLOUDY, rainy and cold. As bad as it is to have to re-acclimate to the Houston heat & humidity, I much prefer it to dreary grey skies. Luckily even though it rained every day in Alaska, it was a light shower that we were still able to get out in easily. Here, when it rains it doesn't mess around about it.

I'll post some pics here sometime.... the highlights were:

• glacier hiking (SO much prettier in person and crampons are super-cool)
• whitewater rafting
• rafting past icebergs
• petting sled dogs
• running in Anchorage! Running is such a great way to see a town. And I found a slammin' Himalayan restaurant, REI, liquor stores, laundry, Wal Mart and all kinds of cool places. And if you ever need to find a porn store in Anchorage, I know where one is.
• I'm not much into spotting animals (years as a zoo docent and previous travels has me dulled to that), but we did spot a bear, whales, lots of caribou, moose, eagles, puffins, seals, and other critters I forget. Oh yeah - a muskrat (right?) swam right behind my canoe.

Now I'm getting back into the running thing and we are ramping up FAST. Ever since I've been back Saturday long runs have been increasing by a mile each week. This week we're up to nine. Then thankfully we do a drop back next week(to 6) and start building again.

Planning on going to my first-ever speed work session tonight. Scary.