Shaving My 5K...Yes or No

No.

ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

But I saw Sherry so it was worth running in the unbelievably cold, windy weather. OMG, it was C-O-L-D! 42 degrees and sooooo windy. The first mile went ok, I had to pull back a few times when my Garmin read 7:40 (!!!) I wanted to hold an 8:30 pace for 3 miles then fly for .1 but the wind was crazy. I hit mile 1 at 8:30, I was happy with that and hoping to maintain but the wind kicked in right after that. I felt like I was running place.

My feet were freezing, my hands were aching and my face was numb. By 1.5 miles my knee was whispering sweet nothings in my ear. And it wasn't saying "I love you". It was saying..."Get the heck off me". I didn't listen. Why should I???? I've been laying low for 2 months now. TWO MONTHS. I've missed 6 races!!! This was the last race of the year for me to shave my 5K time. I had hopes. I had dreams. I had.....a sore knee. And wind. And cold.

I'll admit I was feeling a little bummed now and then. I knew I wasn't going to see a miracle. But ya know what??? I was running my first race in 2 months and I really was grateful for that.

OH-OH-OH!!!! My friend Ed just called me!!! He helped with the race results etc and just called to give me my stats.....28:29 and 1st place in my age division! I am very pleasantly surprised!! You may be wondering why I didn't know this.....I had a 9 mile training run with Chris this morning and couldn't hang around for the results. I was bummed about that because I really love to see my runner friends get their results/medals but I had that prior commitment to run.

But once I got to the gym, my knee was pretty sore. I had a hot chocolate to defrost my insides and contemplated the 9 mile run. Chris came in all bouncy and positive and I didn't want to rain on that awesome attitude so I made the attempt to run. I got about 200 yards and KNEW it wasn't gonna happen, baby. I planted the cooler with the Gatorade and Gu packs at the post and yelled up to Chris. He came back and I told him my knee made other plans. My knee was being a Princess and didn't wanna run. Chris was so fired up he kinda said no problem and trotted off. I felt a wave of envy mixed with pride for him. He will do so well in the marathon! I drove past him on my way home and yelled out some cool "coach-type" words of encouragement. I'll catch up with him later to get the scoop!

EDIT!!!!!!!!!

No shaving my 5K! Sorry for the confusion. My PR is 27:25, I did 28:29 today. The part that surprised me was placing 1st for my age division!!!!

Today is my beloved husband's birthday. He's a lot older than me at 46 years old. I'm only 42, still a chick. He's beautiful inside and out. I'm so very thankful he was born. He's the best husband and father I know. I love him more than I can say. We're going to dinner tonight, I'm looking forward to spending quality time together. Especially later...teehee.....

Here's Mr Birthday Man.....

Love, Love, Love this man.

I'm Baaaaaack!!!!!!

Yep, it's true!! I can tell you I am once again, a RUNNER! I have run 2 days in a row without that debilitating pain....yippeeeee!!!!

I have been spit on twice though. Chris spit INTO the wind Tues morning and it came back and got me on the arm. Yummy. I woulda thought it was raining, but I happened to be looking in the direction of which the spittle came from. It was clear and minute, so I let it go. Today I got spit on by a new runner friend. In the face! Yeah.....LOL...I guess you could say WE BONDED! What's a little saliva between running buddies, huh?????

So Tues morning Chris and I ran about 2.5 miles. He had a sore achilles, which sucks, and I was so worried about my knees that we did a nice easy run. Very enjoyable and light. No pain and I felt fine after. And he ALLOWED talk time. I know! How sweeet! He read my blog and decided he didn't want to be known as my "fuddy-duddy-running-buddy. LOL...He's a good guy!

Today I ran with Steven and Reg. Reg is from Canada. I guess people REALLY do live there! I thought it was way too cold for human habitat, especially in December, but Reg seems relatively normal...LOL. Kiddin'....Reg is a great guy. He's here in Florida because Canada is freakin freezin. He kicked my woe-begotten ass this morning, may I add.

We started out talking and running easy. Withing 2 minutes, I peeked at my Garmin to find us at an 8:20 pace. Geez! I thought I was going to kill my knees at that pace! I was wrong....we kept going....Reg talks in the METRICS. Sigh. He must not know we Americans revolted against that particular type of measurement. Yeah, we PRETEND to know metrics when we talk about distance AT TIMES. But that's only in reference to races. In our everyday talk, no metrics are used. So we spent a goodly amount of time going back and forth with figuring out distances and paces. Blah. I hate math.

I did need to do some walking, that pace was pretty fast for me as I haven't really been able to let loose for 2 months, thanks to the IT band. But guess what?? I loved it!! It felt like such an awesome workout! I could feel my heart racing, blood pumping, legs eager for the next turnover! Not the blueberry turnover, I mean the leg turnover....anyway....

I was very happy to find out I could really, truly run again. Oh JOY!!!! I'm not sure I would have pushed myself if Reg hadn't led me along. I was still in that euphoria 2 hours later!

Steven decided to wear his cleats for the run. Yes, you read that correctly. CLEATS! I said to him, that he was crazy! He said he hopped into his truck and headed over, forgetting he only had his cleats in the truck, not his sneakers. OMG. He ran in the grass beside us, I was worried the whole time. He's 21 yrs old though. You know how those crazy kids are....LOL. Love that kid.

I have a new goal. I wanna do a sprint triathlon. There's one on April 9, 2009. Chris is interested too. We will begin adding in the training for that very soon. Swimming and biking are great cross training for the marathon, so it should work out well. We're very excited!!!!!! My husband is thrilled I'm adding biking to my menagerie of exercising. This is something we can do together. I look forward to kicking his beautiful ass soon.

Now all I need to do is learn how to breathe while I swim. And keep my legs straight. Oh, and the bike part should be a blast on my Schwinn 21 speed. HA!!!!!

I Am A Swimmer....

Kinda. I had my first lesson last Saturday!!! It was a "balmy" 51 degrees out and I was hesitant, but I did it! The water was 85 degrees, so it felt fine. Bob, our Aquatics Director and my friend, met me in the pool for my first lesson. Bob was a swim/dive star in high school and college, so I was in good hands. Plus he promised CPR if I was drowning. I had THAT to look forward to. And don't think for one minute I didn't think of faking it to see if he'd really save me.

Bob took a few minutes to explain to me that the idea of swimming is to stay above the water and not sink. Got it. He also explained I had to breathe. Got that too. Then he told me to keep my legs straight while I kicked to move through the water. Ok! Bob told me to reach with cupped hands, like I was pulling the water TO ME. Yes, I promised to do it all.

I didn't sink. I also didn't keep my legs straight or breathe. BREATHE???? No. Not I. I can breath OUT, but I can't be moving around in the water and find the time to INHALE! Then I would drown. Other than those minUUUUte infractions, Bob said i did well. He's sweet, huh?

Then came diving. We stood side by side on the edge of the pool. Arms up, bent forward, head between elbows. My stomach was a wreck. I felt a little dizzy too. Bob said to just let myself fall forward gently. I did it! I was so happy! I hopped back out, determined to actually dive confidently. Took me just a few seconds to go with a little jump. I did it again!! I did a few of those and then I tried a dive further out and it was easy! I L-O-V-E diving!!! I felt so powerful to be diving. I felt so awesome. I swear, I walked around all day smiling. I'm looking forward to practicing swimming. And especially diving. Bob's going to show me a few cool dives, I cannot wait!!!

RUNNING UPDATE:

I met Chris for our long run Saturday morning. It was a 7 miler and I was unsure if I could make it that far (crazy knees) but I figured I'd be there for Chris anyway. Found out a very important thing about my new friend Chris. He doesn't like to talk or BE talked TO for the first coupla miles. Well. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't usually go too long without talking. This is not good. This is a major conflict folks!!! I really tried not to talk to him, but I kept forgetting!! Then I told him I don't need any answers or even for him to be a part of the dialogue. I can talk to myself just fine. Turns out it makes him tired to hear me talk. Pfffft. Nice. I will start wearing my iPod and he can tap me when he's ready for some conversation I guess. It's ok. My feelings are not hurt. Anymore.

All kidding aside, I enjoy running with Chris. He's doing GREAT and showing some serious endurance. By the end of the 7 miles, he was yelling "7 miles ain't NUTHIN!!!" Like Rocky Balboa's coach. Heehee! Hey Chris...."It ain't NUTHIN" man".....LOL (just wait for mile 20.....hahahaha....)

So my knees got tender at mile 5. We did plenty of walk breaks and kept the pace slow so I did actually finish the 7 miles. I probably walked a half mile straight by mile 6, then did a slow run the last mile. Other than sore knees, I felt fine. no soreness anywhere else. I am afraid to say I'm on the mend, but my fingers are crossed for the Winter Waddle 5k Saturday.

I met up with my friend Bill, Mr Space Coast Marathon Man, at our Zoomers running group's Christmas party last Wed. I got all the details!! He had a great time, the weather was perfect! Beardsley had to cancel because he had KNEE SURGERY. Scary, huh???? Bill was wearing his marathon shirt. Very cool shirt. I SOOOO loved talking with him, getting all the details. We'll be running together at sarasota in Feb!!! YAY BILLL!!!!!!!!

Gotta go read my Boggy friend's blogs, I've been absent far too long. Lets see what Sherry and Glaven are up to.......