Halloween

Only a runner could appreciate this story:

If the weather is nice, my front door is open until Scott comes home in the late afternoono/early evening. I don't celebrate Halloween and hadn't purchased any Hallowwen candy to give out. Unfortunately, when Scott came home, two "trick-or-treaters" follwed him up the front steps.

"Why did you have the door open? What are we going to give them?"

My only options were a can of tuna or some GU packets. Most of the food we keep in the house is fresh/refrigerated. Yes, I gave my neighbors kids GU packets..

A Good Day

Today is a good day. Last night I had Scott try some massage techniques and the shotgun technique on me. It worked! I was pain free afterward. This morning, the pain was back but not too bad.

I run up at Arcadia and really felt good. I was mentally in it and physically in it. Everything was jelling. OK, I saw 2 snakes and that messed up my karma for a bit, but I got over it.

It really makes a difference when you can tune out all the chatter...

I Don't Compete, I Complete

Sometime I love running with my friends. Sometimes it is frustrating. I met up with Lisa, Laura and Melissa this morning at Bluff Creek. Shay called right when we were suppose to start to say that she had the times wrong and would try to find us on the trails. I never happened, but oh well.

The first lap was nice, just chit-chatting with the gals and making plans for Palo Duro. We were going at a slower pace than I would have liked, but I loved the conversation. Really, that's what the Saturday runs are for. I run enough by myself during the week.

Lisa and Laura pulled out about a mile into the second loop due to time conflicts with a previous committment. So it was just Melissa and I. We're both running the 50K at Palo Duro next weekend. Right now she is stronger than me as I've been strugging with my back and the sciatica with my left leg. I am well aware that she will go at faster pace than I at PD. I joked that I'll wave when I pass her. She said that she's running PD purely as a training run for her 50M at Sunmart. She doesn't want there to be any competetion between us. I confirmed that there won't be any competetion coming from me as I'm looking at a run of longer than 7 hours. We talked about who might still be there at the Finish Line to cheer us on as the rest of the gang is doing the 20K. I said that we know at least Scott will be there when she finishes as he will be there waiting for me to come in. Then she said that she really hopes that I'm ahead of her because that would take the pressure off her... That sounds pretty competitive to me...

I really don't know how well my back is going to stand that distance of running, but I'll give it my best. I hope Melissa does as well as she wants. I'm just looking for the Finish Line.

Namaste

Thrive on the Yellow

This morning's run started out cool. With a long sleeved shirt on, I figured it would be off in 10 minutes. Wore it throghout the run. I listened to, "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell me..." and was quite entertained for the first 45 minutes of the run. It felt like I was working hard, and I enjoyed it. With about 5 minutes left to go on the run, and tripped and fell hard. Gotta love the new Montrails as it didn't hurt my toes as it usually does.

I love this Fall weather. Cool morning and warm afternoons. Gotta wonder what Palo Duro will bring. My run won't be fast, but I will complete it.

Spent some time just trying to listen to God. Trying to figure out what I'm suppopse to do. Some things are clear, others are not. I know I need to remove the toxins from my life, and foster the friendships that bring joy.

Peace.

Sneeze Much?

I ran twice today. That wasn't necessarily that plan, but that's what happened. I started with a 4 mile run in the neighborhood, but turned back after about 10 minutes. My stomach hurt and I was sneezing so much due to all the allergens. I went back out this afternoon and ran to the post office. Wanted to mail off a few items and figured I'd run some errands. On this 2nd run, I left the watch at home (because I couldn't find it) and skipped the walk-breaks and just enjoyed the run. Dang, it was windy - and I still sneezed quite a bit. Not a rewarding run day, but at least I got out there.

I've been working on the stretches that Shay gave me, and they do seem to help. Might even try a Sun-salutation today... Getting crazy!

Find peace today!

The Mental Game

The plan was for Lisa, Laura, Shay and I to meet up at Draper for a run. We hadn't all run together since the morning of my wedding, and none of us had run at Draper in months. apparently Lisa and Laura weren't paying attention when reading the email and called from Bluff Creek wondering where I was. Too funny.

Shay and I started off, both sore and tired, complaining that we would have to run slow. That changed after we started talking about work. The frustration tends to make you go faster. We ran the green loop in an hour. Ater re-fueling, we headed out again. We decided to give the Red Loop a shot. That one tends to get confusing because it has so much off-branches. I guess we were in there for about 20 minutes because after tacking on the Green, we were finished in 2:20.

We allowed our brains to convince us we were too tired to do another, and called it a day. I'm a bit frustrated that I didn't go longer and even considered driving to Bluff Creek on my way home to do a loop there. But, the driveway and couch was calling.

I wish I hadn't allowed my brain to talk me into quitting early. Right now I feel great and know my body could have done it. Oh well, there's always next time.

Happy October

What a great day for a run. I went out to Bluff Creek around 9:30 and had the place to myself. I love running out there when it's so quiet. Shay did some manipulations with my hips the other day and I'm not sure what to think of it. It's not any worse, nor is it any better. It just feels different, almost like my spine is about to popl If it does, hopefully it adjusts into the right position! My back hurt for most of the run. My neck is clicking and popping like crazy. I hate takng muscle relaxants, but I think it might be necessary for a while.

Whatever fluid I was retaining seems to be gone, as I can wear my wedding ring again, but I rather like it on the chain around my neck

Time to head to Roadrunnersports.com to order new running shoes.

May peace and joy surround you!