Watch this space..

I'm currently uploading all nearly 1000 photos from the trip to Europe. I am working on a little summary of the running (and one race!) I got to do over there and will be posting it as soon as it's done. Suffice it to say for now that I had a great time and I really really really miss the nice weather and locales from over there!!

Cooper River Bridge Run, April 5, 2008

Well, I've let this weekend simmer for several weeks now. It's definitely time to go ahead and post a dang recap and race report!

I got out of school one hour early (bargain with my assistant principal for a BIG FAVOR she needed from me! Woot!) and immediately got on the road to SC. I still got stuck in some traffic getting to I-20. Boooo. Luckily it only slowed me down 20 mins. or so. Rest of the ride was uneventful. Boring, even. However, I was really looking forward to getting to Charleston and seeing Ann again!! I knew she had some fun stuff planned for us and I was ready for my spring break to officially begin!

I arrived around 8 and Ann was still coming home from work. We stopped at Moe's for dinner and then headed to her apartment nearby. With all the chatting and catching up, we still didn't get to bed until about midnight! Oops! Looooooonnnnnng day for me!

Sat. morning, 5 am. I was awake. Didn't sleep well due to nerves and general crappy sleeping lately. It was ok. I knew I'd have the adrenaline pushing me along once we got running. We were out the door about 5:45 and headed for downtown. Got down there in plenty of time and joined the LONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGG line for the buses to take us to the other side of the river for the start in Mount Pleasant. I was yawning, but anticipation was building.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for the race to start. We heard several different renditions of the Star Spangled Banner as we found our place in line. About 2 minutes from the start time, something like 8 people wearing race car outfits (like the size of box cars, painted with random drivers’ logos, etc- including car #69 painted with a Viagra logo!!) started to squeeze by us. Um, no. I don’t think so. We moved up ahead of them so as not to get caught in their mess. Cute idea, but bulky and annoying in the huge crowd that was already there.

Start went off. We slowly walked towards the mat and then set off. Ann likes to do a lot of weaving through the crowds. We wound our way through many many folks. Probably a 10:45 pace or so?? As we got to the bridge, there was a bit of a traffic jam since we had previously been running on a road about 6 lanes wide, to squeezing into 3 lanes or so. This is where it really started to feel humid, too. I was sweating! It was overcast and very windy. As we started up the bridge, the wind felt great (but I almost lost my hat a few times). It was the only relief from the crazy humidity. I’m sure that by this point, we had slowed down some. But I really really didn’t want to have to stop. Unfortunately, my lungs had other plans. We stopped briefly (a minute or so?) near the crest of the bridge so I could take a couple of puffs on the inhaler and catch my breath. This *was* the longest and only run I’d done in almost 2 weeks at that point, so I wasn’t too surprised. I just hate having to stop during races. It feels like cheating or something to me. Once my breathing calmed down, Ann and I got back to running. Had a couple of other brief stops farther along, but we finished strong. Final time was s-l-o-w! 1:10 or something? I haven’t received my official results card yet, so I’m not sure. We were way off the clock time due to the huge start.

Ann and I headed to the big table near the square where people were throwing out oranges and giving out bagels and muffins and grabbed a water. We headed over to a nice spot under a tree and dug in. Those oranges were so delicious! They definitely hit the spot after running! We didn’t feel like hanging around too long and went on back to her car to grab some money. We met some friends of Ann’s at a bar nearby (they had been there a while, though, and left soon after….) We had a nice lunch and a post-race beer. 



The rest of the weekend was fabulous. We spent a beautiful day going out to the fort near Isle of Palms (I forget the other island’s name) and driving around the area. I wish I could buy one of those great little beach houses right on Isle of Palms!!! Still my favorite place in SC. That evening after a little nap, we met up with her other friend Beth and hit the town. Started with dinner in a brew pub, then drinks at a hip (too hip: read loud and crowded) wine bar, then a final stop at a perfect little bar. We chatted up several different folks and ended the night with a couple of Army helicopter instructors from FL. What a blast! We ended up giving them a ride back to their hotel and dropped Beth off at her place.

Sunday, Ann took me to a really yummy place known for its brunch called Marina, I think. We looked right out over the water the whole time. Delicious food! She then took me on a foot tour of the Battlement and the neighborhoods in the area (owner of Piggly Wiggly lives there, she pointed out). Beautiful. It was a perfect day.





She was called in to cover for someone at work for an hour so we headed downtown at that point.



I went to the Market and bought a cool handmade glass necklace while she worked. We then walked a little more around town as we headed slowly back to her car and back to her place. I thought about staying another night in a hotel and driving back the next day (I didn’t want to leave!) but the priceline hotels just weren’t cheap enough for me.

The drive home was rather uneventful as I replayed some of the best moments of the weekend. I had a great time with my friend. We already made plans for her to come visit this summer (Braves’ game!) and to run the Isle of Palms Connector run (10K) in October together. I can’t wait!

Charleston, here I come........

So. Tomorrow. I'll be on the road around 3 o'clock if everything works as planned (pending assistant principal approval! ;) ) I'm really really looking forward to the weekend. I will be visiting my friend Ann! I went out there last year and ran the Cooper River Bridge Run with her last year (it's a 10K for those who might be interested). She suggested a few months ago that we make a weekend of it this year. She called tonight and we've got plans for the entire weekend! Nice girls' weekend out. This is exactly what I need at this point, after the hectic past couple of months. I'm rather unprepared for this race, but I think I'll do alright. I'm sure I'll be nervous once it hits me what I'm going to be doing at 7 am in possible thunderstorms (d'oh!) At this point, I need to get to sleep so I can drag myself up early enough tomorrow to finish packing the toiletries. More later.....

How many 5 year old could you take in a fight? ;)

I could take on 18.

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.