Road Kill & a Flash Flood!

I just ran possibly the hottest run ever. I'm sure I feel that way every time but today was especially crazy! It's 95 degrees outside and the sun was beating down! Thankfully there was a slight breeze...that was my saving grace...besides the fact I stopped every once in a while to answer a text from my friend Heather! lol The bad thing about today's run is that there was ROAD KILL everywhere! Worse than the time my Sister In Law Kayla and I ran and saw dead frogs smushed in the road! I passed a sleketon possum. Something had picked it's bones apart! It was disgusting! I also saw a few turtles...so sad! I think someone also threw their gross fish heads in the big ditch at the end of my road. Sooo, if you can imagine, everything had a very unpleasant odor, of course. It was lovely. I did it though! 3.5 miles! I ran with my hydration belt which was a big pain at first cause the bottles were full and the thing wanted to bounce around! After I drank a little out of each bottle, it got better thankfully! The cold did feel good on my back, though!!

So far this week:
Sunday: 3 mile run in a.m. (this took the place of Monday's run), Jillian Michaels workout in p.m.
Monday: Jillian Michaels workout in a.m.
Tuesday: Jillian Michaels workout in a.m. (was supposed to run but got rained out)
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run in p.m.

I feel much better this week. I'm picking up speed a little and I'm able to run futher since my whole foot incident! Yay!

Yesterday, I had all intentions of running but it rained and rained and rained allllll day long. The old part of my town has a bad drainage system and I was trying to go to McAlisters for dinner! Well, I got stuck in a FLASH FLOOD! Oh my gosh I was SO scared! I got the text update on my phone from our local news just as I was driving into it! It was soooo scary!!!

Every time a car would pass and would make waves, I could feel my car moving up and down with the waves. I really thought my car was going to flood out! I was able to get out of it after about 5 minutes but that was seriously the scariest 5 minutes of my life! So, moral of the story, I'm not driving down that road EVER again if it is raining that bad!

I've never prayed so hard in my life! lol

Humidity

Here in South West Louisiana, we have our very fair share of humidity! It's been a rough summer for running outside! I say that but I've skipped about 5 weeks of running outside because of my foot! I love fall weather when it's cooler outside and you can do you REAL pace without getting to outdone! This morning, I checked the temps before I ran....80% humidity, 82 degrees (feels like 89) and I got EXCITED! We are almost always at 90% humidity or above...100% and much hotter outside! The sun was thankfully behind a cloud my entire run and it made for a nice run! I am unfortunately drenched right now! lol Oh well! I did 3 miles this morning by the way!

Yesterday, we had our Annual Girls Sleepover at my church. I'm the coordinator of the program so I've had week getting everything together and last minute ideas. Why is it that all the GOOD ideas come at the last minute?? lol Anyway, our theme was "Shine Like Stars" and I kinda gave it a Hollywood twist! We had a red carpet and everything! So much fun! I'll post a few pictures later! In saying all that, I didn't get to actually go to sleep until about 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. We woke up about 7 a.m. and all the kids were gone by 8 a.m. I finished cleaning up, then made my way home to run. I missed running with my group this weekend...oh well! I got home and did 4 miles and then I took a shower, played on the internet till about 11 a.m., then I went back to bed and slept until 3 p.m.!!! I'm getting too old for all of this "sleepover" stuff! lol It was worth it though and we had a blast!

Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday! I'm going to shower and then go to church! :0)

Calorie Burn!

Here I am, sitting at the hotel waiting on the bus to take us to the airport! The first guy who I tried to set up a time with told me they would take us to the airport and we'd arrive 50 minutes before our plane was set to take off. OK NO! That made me incredibly nervous! Ever since missing my plane in Orlando in January because of Security, I'm all about arriving WAY ahead of time!!! lol So my mom talked to someone else who will take us to the airport about 2 hours before our plane! Thank you! lol

So in my sitting and reading, I came across this paragraph. A while back, I tried to argue this point with someone who pretty much "knows it all" even though they had only been running for a few weeks and I had a year + under my belt. I was told that this concept was dumb and I was wrong. Ok mister (or miss) know it all...here you go!

This is an exerpt from Marathon The Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon:

Scientifically Speaking
Calorie Burn
"This varies from runner to runner and depends on size and metabolism, but most of us burn 100 CALORIES FOR EVERY MILE we run. Burn 3,600 calories by running 36 miles and you will lose 1 pound. But it doesn't matter how fast you run those miles. You can even walk and burn nearly the same number of calories per mile. Scientists quibble over the precise numbers, but calorie loss is related to foot-pounds: the amount of effort (that's energy) it takes to push a body of a specific weight forward. You can run a 5 min mile or a 10 min mile (or walk a mile), and you'll still burn approximately 100 calories for covering the identical distance."

Now. I feel better. Thank you. lol

Last day in NC!

Sadly, we say goodbye to beautiful North Caorlina tomorrow! I've definitely enjoyed my lazy, sleepy time here! I've slept almost 10-12 hours a night and thoroughly enjoyed myself being lazy, playing on the internet, sightseeing, etc. I sound like such a lazy blob but if you even knew how hectic my life is at home, you'd think differently! lol

Speaking of lazy blob, look at our candy drawer in our hotel room! lol



My mom brought half of this stuff back from her training classes! I think it's funny cause if someone opened that drawer, they would think a bunch of chunky monkeys are staying here!! lol Funny thing is, that's been in there all week and we've eaten maybe 1/3 of it! Ah well!

Wednesday night, my mom's company took us out to eat! We were standing at the door waiting on our ride when TWO limos pulled up! Woohoo! Riding in style, baby!





My mom and I in the limo on the way to dinner! They took us to a place called the Angus Barn. Apparently, it's the best steak house on the East Coast! One of their chefs was on Iron Chef American and won! I got the Filet and I would have to say it was pretty awesome!!



This is where we ate!



Me in the limo on the way back!

This morning, I woke up and I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Someone who was in the fitness center before me had the TV on House. Well, being a medical professional, I hate all medical shows. ER, House, Grey's...I don't watch them. This episode of House though had me so intruged, I was only supposed to run 3 miles but I ended up doing 3.5 cause I was so caught up in the show! LOL That never happens but I thought it was awesome and I wish it happened more often! Haha!

After my run, I got ready so I could visit with my cousin who lives here in town. Well, I got an e-mail from her saying she had to go to the ER r/t some complications from a recent surgery! :0( When my mom got back to the hotel after her classes, one of her classmates offered her husband to drive us to the hospital so he did which was SO nice! We were able to visit with my cousin and her mom and then after she was discharged, we went back to their house to visit a little longer! Best thing of all, my cousin and I are so much alike! We are both in love with Disney and growing up, we were huge NSYNC fans! Lol So we had a lot to talk about!! :0)



This is my cousin and I! :0) We had a great visit, I wish it could have been longer! Can't wait to see them again!!

A little North Carolina!

My bootless foot in the airport! YAY! Felt great to be in 2 of the SAME shoes! lol



My first running outfit! lol I haven't had a chance to wear the pink dot! I loved it!!

The last 2 days, I pretty much stayed in my room, caught up on sleep, internet, and phone calls. What a life! I loved being lazy and enjoying my time off (I'm never able to be lazy...seems like I'm always going going going!) lol Anyway, so after 2 days of lounging around, I decided to get out and see a little of Duke University! It's close to our hotel and I was just gonna walk there but our Hotel van driver advised me against it so he drove me! Yay!

I went to the Duke University Chapel first! It is SO GORGEOUS! I loved exploring it!





My self-portrait inside! lol I've never gone sightseeing by myself! lol



This place is absolutely breathtaking! There are no words to describe how beautiful it is inside!

My next stop: Sarah P. Duke Gardens!



This one was taken with my 10 second timer! lol



The Gardens were beautiful, also! I spent about an hour and a half walking the trails through the Gardens! So many beautiful things to see! I think this would be a perfect place to sneak away with your significant other for some quiet time! It would be a beautiful place for an engagement as well! There's something magical about this place!





Tomorrow, my cousin who lives in NC is coming to pick me up and we are going to go exploring a little more! Can't wait!!!

Needless to say, I didn't do my 2 mile run today. I wanted to give my foot a bit of a break...but I did walk over 2 miles at Duke today so that counts instead! LOL



"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Marathon Training has begun!

Saturday, I laced up my shoes for the first time in 5 weeks and joined my running group for our very first run of Marathon season! I was beyond nervous about running on my foot for the first time. I was told to go .25 miles, if no pain, go to .5 miles, etc. I did that and around .5 miles, I started to feel my foot. It bothered me cause I didn't want to push it so I decided to turn around at the water station. Lucky me, my usual running buddies were at the water station on their way back! Yay! So I got to run back with them and catch up a little! Total, I did 1.25 miles. I was a little sore on Sunday but excited that I was able to do the entire 1.25 miles! I was very worried about having to "start over" but it's not that way at all!!! Yay!

Now, I'm in North Carolina with my mom while she is on training for her job! I had the opportunity to run yesterday and today on the treadmill. It went great, I felt fine...no pain! Monday, I did 2 miles and Tuesday, I did 3 miles (all without stopping and with no foot pain)! Yay! I of course took my runs on the treadmill slower than normal and will continue to do so that way I don't push my foot to it's limits!

So excited and glad that the days of the boot are over! Yay!

Versatile Blogger Award!

Look how cool!!!!

Here's a few instructions that came with it:

1.Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2.Share 6 (or 7) things about yourself.
3.Pass this award to bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!
4.Contact the bloggers you picked and let them know about the award.

My award comes from my friend Heather over at Running With Sass! Go check out her blog! She's a great friend and a good running buddy! Hehe!

Ok, here are a few things about myself:

1.) I love to scrapbook! I am kind of behind but I'm working on catching up! Right now, I'm on my races scrapbook. Also working on finishing up our Astros games scrapbook!

2.) I am SCARED to death of BRIDGES! Aaaah!! Seriously...especially the ones with the huge supports at the top! Oh my gosh it took me FOREVER to drive to New Orleans by myself because of that scaaaaaaaary Baton Rouge bridge (I did it for the first time in 2008 to meet up with Heather...so Heather, you know you're a good friend! lol)! That thing is soooo huge! I still don't like to drive it!!! lol Today I rode with our Dr. to another hospital for a conference and we had to drive over this awful bridge in my town. It's ok if we are driving but guess what? All my luck...traffic was STOPPED on the bridge. It was terrible because I could feel the bridge moving and we were WAY high up! Soooo scary!!! I think my fear is from a dream I had when I was little that I was riding to New Orleans with my grandparents and we were on top of one of those bridges and there was a HOLE in the bridge and we almost fell through. Scar(r)ed me for life! lol

3.) Speaking of scars, I have a scar on the top left corner of my forehead. It's from when I was 5 years old. I was playing on a bouncy horse and I flew over the top of the horse and my head landed on a porcelin cat's ear. Broke the ear! Didn't break my head but it sure did bleed a lot and I have a forever scar there!

4.) I would love to be a full time Wedding Planner/Photographer but the stress is too much for me! Go figure...I'm a nurse and I think wedding stress is too much! lol I love love love weddings!!! Here recently, I've started to feel like the girl in 27 dresses except I'm married! lol I have THREE weddings coming up...two of which, I'm the Matron of Honor! By the end of all of this, I will have been in 8 weddings total! lol

5.) I love doggies and wish I could save them all. I HATE going to Pets Mart on adopt days becuase I want to bring them all home with me. I always go into the store crying. So no Pets Mart/Petco on Saturdays for me!! lol

6.) I want to tour Europe one day. All of the history there fascinates me!

7.) If I could work anywhere in the world (besides Disney World or the Disney Store, of course) it would be Hobby Lobby. I can't work there though because my ENTIRE pay check would go to buying stuff in the store with my employee discount for myself! Baaaaaad!!! lol


I'm going to share this award with two people!
MJ at Girl Running
Cassie at I Know She's There...


Thanks again, Heather!

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Yesterday, I walked 2 miles with Maddie and Jason. Guess what? I have SHIN SPLINTS today! WHAT THE HECK!?!?!? So I see that getting back into this running thing is going to be painful. Great. Just freakin great. Thanks oh so very much boy-who-can't-throw-a-softball-to-the-right-person. I still feel the pain a little when I sit funny and yesterday I tried to put on a pair of narrow tennis shoes and that hurt. I'll officially be 4 weeks out on Thursday. That's when I was told I could start trying to slowly run again. Our running group also starts up marathon training on Saturday so I'll be out there for that. I'm not going to go far or do too much...I'll start out slow with low mileage and see how I feel.

As for this week, it's my Grandpa's 90th birthday on Thursday! We are throwing him a big surprise bash on Saturday! Can't wait! On top of all that, we have family coming in for his birthday so I have to clean my house (that's tonight) and we are leaving for North Carolina on Sunday so I have to pack for that. I'm going to NC with my mom ... it's something for work for her. My dad was gonna go but he can't get off so I'm going. It's going to be lovely...we won't have a car so I'll get to sit at the hotel and sleep alllllll day if I want. I can workout in their fitness center (I checked on it...it's a nice one and a nice hotel), or I can swim/lay out at the pool. I can't wait to relax!! Then in the afternoon/nights, we'll get to explore the town! Yay! We have family there so we'll get to see them. I'm super excited!

Ok I'm off to clean now! Have a lovely day!!! :0)

One on the Run

I do have something interesting to blog about, but before that, I'll update on my 2010 Spring Season stats!

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5K's run:
Eight
February 2010-Make Your Heart Race: 28:14
March 2010-Free to Breathe: 28:09
April 2010-CadeMan Benefit Run: Race Untimed
April 2010-Courier du Festival: 27:35 (PR)
May 2010-The Gusher: 26:35 (Not a true 5K)
May 2010-Athletes Corner 3 Miler: 29:28 (Very HOT race!)
May 2010-Astros Race for the Pennant: 33:44 (VERY HILLY race! lol)

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8K's run:
One
May 2010: Contraband Days 5 Miler: 48:08 (PR)

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Half Marathons run:
Two
January 2010-Walt Disney World Half: 2:56:09
February 2010-New Orleans Rock and Roll Half: 2:28:07 (PR)

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I had fun! I met one of the two of my goals..
1.) Break 27:59!
2.) Place in my age group (did not meet)

There's always next season!!!

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Now onto my "real post"!

One on the Run. Have you heard of it? It's a lady named Helene Neville. She was diagnosed in 1998 with Hodgkin's disease. She battled with this disease for five years along with 3 brain surgeries! She was told that she had months to live, so what did she do? She trained for and ran the Chicago Marathon! Now, after 12 years and with 25 marathons under her belt, she's still running, only this time, she's running across the country!

The coolest thing about it is she's a NURSE! She's running something called "One on the Run". It's a 2,520 mile run she started on May 1 in Ocean Beach, California. Now, she's made it to my town in Louisiana, and she'll end her run on August 1 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida! She's running along I-10 where she averages 30 miles per day and stays in RV parks at night! (She has a crew who travels with her, but she does all the running by herself!) Her purpose for doing this run?
1.) To advocate healthful living to nurses
2.) To promote her book "Nurses in Shape"
3.) Raise money for St. Francis deSales Elemen. School in Penn (for disadvantaged children)

When she was still under treatments, she would run the 10 miles to her Doctors appointments and she ran the 2000 Houston Marathon with a PICC line in her arm!

If she finishes (who am I kidding?) WHEN she finishes her run on August 1, she will be the first woman ever to finish the southern cross-country route and the only woman to complete it in the summer! That's pretty hard core!!

Helene spoke at our Hospital on Thursday! She had lots of stories and is very passionate about life! I (unfortunately) had my stupid foot check up so I had to miss her speak!



My Dad heard her speak and took pity on me! lol He got her book and tshirt for me!

That afternoon, our running coach and a couple of our Go Run members got to run with her!

Moral of the story? Don't let your situations determine how fit you are physically! If you put your mind to it, you can DO it!!! :0) Keep up the amazing work, Helene!!!

3 week checkup!

So today, I had my 3 week checkup on my foot! It's healing fine according to the Xrays and it definitely feels better. The Doctor told me to continue wearing the boot a little longer and slowly ease myself back into real shoes. Hopefully soon! He said listen to my foot...if it hurts, then don't push it.

The appointment felt like it took forever! First, the Doctor came in. Then I went for Xrays, then the Nurse Practitioner came in. He left, then they both came back in. At first, when they pulled up my new xray, they both got quiet and the xray looked funny to me. I thought "Oh no! What did I do to myself?! Is it displaced?!?" lol My heart started beating faster. Then the Dr. turned around and was like, "Ok! It's healing!" LOL Thank goodness! What a relief!

I asked the Nurse Practitioner about running again. He kinda discouraged me from running altogether which I can understand, he's an Ortho, they don't like you to do things that hurt your joints and stuff but still. What else does he want from me? To become a couch potato?! NO sir! lol He pretty much told me I was "too old" for all of this "softball stuff". He said I'm going to get myself seriously injured. Um really?! Then he said I don't need to be running marathons either cause all I'm going to do is hurt myself. For one, I don't plan on running Full Marathons for forever. I want to do one just to say I did it. After that, I'll do a half or 2 a year. For two, what right does he have to tell me not to do my healthy activity?! Does he want me to just lie on the couch and become a blob!? lol He did tell me that if I absolutely had to run (um duh hello I'm already registered for a half in October!) that I need to start off by walking. Do that for a few days...if no pain, then increase to jogging lightly for a quarter mile. After that, if I still have no pain, increase to half a mile, etc. He said just build up slow. I definitely will do that. I knew that already. I don't want to reinjure this thing or have it not heal properly! As he was leaving, he told me I have a "lot of life in my years" and I need to take it easy. lol Whatever. I never thought I was "taking it too hard"! lol

After all of that, I stopped at Starbucks for one of these babies...



A perfect afternoon pick me up! What was even better...I used a giftcard to pay for it! lol