ING was not to be...

Oh well. No ING for me this year. I waited too long and couldn't get in. Just as well, judging by the yucky weather. I got to sleep 11 hours last night instead! (I even forgot about/missed my last opportunity to go to a Thrashers' practice today! Sad) I didn't even make it down there to cheer all the KRs on.

Yesterday was a lot of fun, though. I got to the expo about 8:45am and reported for duty! Got all signed in and got my volunteer orange shirt (kinda threw a wrench in the whole "I'll be wearing my KR shirt to help stand out!" plan) Started at the registration/packet pick up tables. Yea!! Fun! Then someone came and and asked me to go to the children's area to help monitor the kids in the play zone! WHAT?? But, I didn't get up at 6:30 this morning to go babysit! Grf! I was promised a replacement soon... Took about an hour or so (an hour too long), but I finally got to go back to the registration table. I stopped at the Nike+ area and chatted with the woman for a good 30 minutes or so and told her all of the issues/ideas I had for nike+!! Finally! I could remember them at the right moment. She even videotaped me giving some of my suggestions! Pretty cool! Now when all those things come to the site, you can thank me personally! ;) I told her about needing a way to put in runs manually. I said they don't have to count for challenges, but it would be nice to have a back up when something goes wrong with the sensor/ipod (low battery, etc...) I also (finally!) remembered to suggest that the online run graphs include all of the information you hear on the ipod during the runs (time at that point, etc....) She told me about her suggestion of adding in a monthly calendar type function where you could chart out your planned runs. She also told me that others had thought of adding a projected weekly mileage function that would show under your my runs area. The bar would then turn green as you met the goal and show clear if you didn't. Nice! I look forward to seeing some of these improvements!!

Anyway, the rest of the volunteering went well. I was with 2 really nice folks. One was from the Cayman Islands originally and even knew an old college friend of mine, Annie Briggs! Small world! (Ala)Michelle came by and we caught up a bit. She couldn't make the dinner later, due to staying with friends (and needing to visit with them instead). Still great to see her! One of the parents of a student I took to France last year came by as well. She recognized my name from my name tag! Random! Chatted with some Chilean runners, South Africans, a nice guy from Guinée (he seemed pleased I could speak French! :) ), a guy from Brighton, UK and many more. I loved seeing the excitement and anticipation in everyone's faces. I will definitely do this again next year!! Perhaps next year I will actually register on time myself, and run the darn thing, too!!

After my shift, I played around at the expo- did a cool Mizuno foot analysis thingy. Pretty much told me everything I knew, but I got a print out of my feet! :D Listened to Grete Weitz speak. Very very cool! Finally found Tithers/Sherry at her Tri booth. Chatted a bit with her, then got back on the Marta (in the rain) and headed back to Lindbergh- the dinner meet up spot. I was a good hour early, so I hung out at Taco Mac for a bit. Sherry got there first and we went over to the Chili's and waited for the rest of the group. All in all it was a great dinner. Got to meet Aimee (luckylily) and her husband and the twins!!!! I'm definitely in love with the boys! Such cute sweeties! I also met Lloyd (Roots), Becca and Brian (Snooze and Toejam) and Sarah (Stitcher) who drove in all the way from Auburn, AL! Beth/Crazyfrog and Heather/QN were also present!

It was long, exhausting day, but well worth it. Now it's time to focus on next Saturday's 10K in Charleston, SC (Cooper River Bridge Run). I will be running after work tomorrow for sure. Stay tuned. I will also upload some photos from Saturday here, once I've dumped them from my camera!

Due to popular demand....

I will start double posting here so that my loyal fans can post comments to me here! I'm just scared I might lose access again and that would make me sad. :( So, I will start copying and pasting my posts here and keep the Windows Live blog as my back up. :) HOw's that?

New Route! Sorta!

Went out for 4 miles this afternoon. I probably would have gone longer but I had a last minute tutoring request that I couldn't turn down! I was a little sore from Sunday (that's what happens when you take "breaks" for several days! Oops!) but it wasn't too bad. It was chilly and a little windy as I set out. I was wondering if I should have gone for the long sleeve shirt, despite the bright sun and pure blue sky. The first mile was still chilly, but I definitely warmed up as I started hitting the hills. I ran towards Fleet Feet on Old Milton. I normally run to the Kroger and turn left to stay on the relatively flat section and avoid the HUGE hill that comes after that intersection when you go straight. It's about a 3.5 mile round trip when I go that way. However, I felt up for a challenge today and kept going. I'm happy to report that despite having to play a few head games along the way, I made it up all the hills! I will admit stopping for water/breath at the top of those hills, but I didn't let myself wimp out. :)

I want to note that my last two runs seemed timeless. I didn't feel any dread of how much longer. They went by quickly. In fact, I was sad to have to stop today! I know that my extended break was part lack of time to run/schedule and partly motivation. I wanted to run in my heart and head, but just couldn't always get out the door. After these past couple of really great runs, I think it will be easier to convince myself to make the first step.

Inspired by my friend Martin, I am going to start noting the playlist I use each run (as long as I remember!) This was a new playlist I compiled from songs posted on the Thrashers' forum as being played during the games. I didn't recognize a whole lot of them (they must be just in snippets during the games??) but WOW! What a great playlist. I randomly chose 22 of the songs I'd downloaded (there are like 100 total). I did a good job! :D

So...

PLAYLIST USED: Thrashers' 1 (I only have one at this point, but I have a feeling I will be creating others!)

Back to the egg

So, looks like blog spot figured out that I am, in fact, not a crazy spammer. I'll figure out what I want to do with this page. Perhaps archive the posts on the other blog and link to them here as well? I'm afraid of it happening again.

What's your rockstar name?

something silly and quick to play with if you're bored! :)

Your Rockstar Name Is...

Vanilla Danger

What's Your Rockstar Name?

Harder to breathe!

Heidy ho! I'm still here. Just haven't had a moment to myself lately. Next week will be equally as crazy. I am seriously counting down till spring break!! Tomorrow I will be going to the gym and starting up my weight training routine again. I will also be running on the greenway. Planning 4 miles. Yep. I know that my schedule says otherwise, but unfortunately, I am way behind on that. :( I miss running, but at some point, I have to sleep. Between school/work, tutoring, and hockey I've not had the time. I know that I chose to put some other things before running at times, I don't feel quite as bad as I might if I had simply been sitting around on my couch.

I'm still looking forward to Madison HM in May. It is now approximately 12 weeks away. Perfect timing for a solid training round. I'm still gunning for a new HM PR!! :)

For now, I will just do the best I can!