LONG TIME NO WRITE

First Monday of the week.

Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted anything. It's been...stressful...on a variety of fronts. One big stress is that I seem to have fallen off the weight loss wagon for about 2.5 months, now. Not sure why, completely.

I gained 5 lbs some time ago and as of my last weigh in I have maintained that. I really need to get back on that wagon... This is part of why I am stressed. I can feel the 5lbs when I run. I am about 15 seconds/mile slower on average and it feels a bit harder. Ugh.

I have a half coming up in 2 weeks. It is an "I dream of Jeannie" themed race. I will be wearing a quasi Jeannie outfit. I would really like to have this 5lbs off by then. Not that this would help me look svelte in that outfit, or anything, but at least I wouldn't be feeling as bloated as I do right now. The way you feel, as opposed to the way you look,  goes a long way to happiness. Don't get me wrong, I desperately want to look like Jeannie, lol! If I can get back on the wagon I will eventually get to a much closer place to that...note, I said "closer" not that I could look like her for real...sigh.

Anyway, I will post a fun pic or two after the race. My running buddy is dressing like Major Nelson:-) . His uniform is made of Drifit and it looks amazing! I need to look the part! I need to hurry up and finish my costume.

I am wearing a pink tutu instead of Jeannie pants. I will modify the top of the tutu to look like the Jeannie pants on the show. The top will be a pink dance tank with a bolero-like dark pink jacket like Jeannie wears. I will make that out of another tech shirt.

About that, I already tried to make the bolero but accidentally cut the shirt up the middle on both sides due to the way I had it folded....I was so mad. It was the perfect shirt and I got it on clearance for $5 and it was the only one. I had to buy a replacement shirt for $10. It is painfully apparent I haven't got the faintest clue how to sew. Thank goodness for Stitch Witchery and fabric glue! LOL.

I will try try, again...

Under all that I will wear my anatomically correct girl shirt. It's so funny that it looks so much like I am not wearing a shirt till you get close. It's the same one I posted a pic of on an earlier post regarding our mermaid running costumes.

 ...sorry, it just occurred to me I never posted the mermaid costumes. Here are a couple pics...

When/if I ever reach my goal weight I will ditch the shirt and show my real 6 pack!








Got the RnR half coming up, too...in Vegas. I have such mixed feelings about that. I want to be, and am, super excited, but I am also so incredibly sad about what happened there and a little afraid, too. They thought about canceling the race but after talking with authorities about security decided to let it go on. Another source of stress...

I'm going to put my happy face on and try to have fun. The costumes my friends and I are wearing for that are hilarious. I'll discuss that on another post, later.

Well, I will let you know if I can catch the wagon this week.

TTFN

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER....

It's actually Monday.

I totally forgot I saved this post in my drafts because I ran out of time to finish it last Wednesday. So, better late than never....here it is.

Wednesday 9-13-17
Went for a run this afternoon, part of which, was around a lake on the university campus where I work. I ran 5 miles. It felt pretty good.


Along the way I was looking at the water levels so abnormally high in the lake just expecting to see alligators sunning themselves feet off of the sidewalk...and I did.

I occasionally see these guys sunning themselves and while I know they would really rather be left alone I am still paranoid they will leap out and try to eat me, lol. Don't let their statuesque like demeanor fool you. These guys can move like a burst of lightening! Just be aware of that should you come across one. Don't get too close. You never know...






 


I also ran past the Physics building where I saw a huge, grand, old oak tree down due to Irma. This was sad to see. I loved that tree. It had to be hundreds of years old. It was sooo big.

Well, there is always an up to a down. I always try to keep the opposite in mind when running, lol. But the up, in this case, is that maybe they can plant several more trees in it's place. There are so many beautiful kinds of trees. I'm afraid they will be afraid to plant a tree here though... I will wait and watch as I run around campus over the next year seeing what they decide.

Well, TTFN

BYE BYE IRMA!!!

Third Friday of the week.

 Well, Irma came and went!

Irma: 9-11-17

It's been 13 years since Florida has gotten bamboozled by hurricanes. We were struck with 4 hurricanes in a row, one every 2 weeks, in 2004: Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne. Ivan just wouldn't leave! that one kept coming back over and over! My son was born the night Hurricane Francis struck. That was loads of fun trying to get to the midwifery center while in active labor during a hurricane after the mandated curfew to be off the roads, dodging downed trees and sideways rain. Anyway, all is safe and sound here, today, thank goodness.

As fortune would have it my city got off pretty easily with a few proverbial scrapes and bruises.

Tree on power line near my house

My neighbor's yard

There are still some folks with no power and some flooding and my heart goes out to them.

But when I see the utter devastation in the Keys, Miami, Naples... and Jacksonville and St. Augustine just an hour and a half north of me I thank my lucky starts that I am in the position I'm in. Now I can help others.

It was scary to hear the screeching wind and gusts as they came and went. I found myself holding my breath each time the wind kicked up really hard hoping none of my roof would fly off or that a tree or tree branch wouldn't wind up as part of my roof. All this as Irma passed through my area as a weakening category 1 hurricane. I simply cannot imagine what a cat 5 would be like...

I made the best of a bad situation. With no power I was still able, and desperate enough, to make coffee. It took an hour for the water to heat up enough by candle power to make coffee! But the coffee was quite smooth, lol! I will be investing in some camping equipment....

But now comes the part of the storm that, unless you live in an area that gets this kind of weather, most people would not understand. This is the part where so many more deaths will occur. The surge.  It takes days to maybe even weeks for water levels in rivers and lakes and wetlands to get back to normal. But to get back to normal the water that was pushed and sucked inland by the hurricane starts to rush back to where it normally is but is accompanied by excess water from the rain and, if you're on the coast, ocean.

A highway I travel everyday

It's been 2 days since Irma and now we are starting to see some real flooding in a lot of areas. Rivers are still rising up to 35 feet above normal. Roads are starting to flood due to water overload in the marshes and swamps our area is inundated with. This is when things like alligators and snakes start to become a real problem... This is a pic of a highway I travel everyday. The right side under the water is where the 2 west bound lanes are. The water has flooded one of the east bound lanes leaving only one lane for traffic to use in each direction. This highway was totally clear of water the afternoon after Irma hit. ...surge!

I so badly wanted to get out and run the morning after Irma passed. It was so cool and the wind, while still appreciably strong, was really nice to feel. But, not having slept a wink all night long I was simply too tired. However, after being a nervous Nelly for a couple of days prior to Irma my silly cat was able to finally relax and get some shut eye, lol.

Now it is hot, again. I spent all day yesterday cleaning debris from my yard and now my knee is bothering me. To add to that, I think I might be getting sick. I have felt a little weird the last few days like my sinuses were off, I feel oddly bloated and my body aches, especially my back, shoulders and ankles.

To be fare, part of me wonders if it is because I have been eating a lot more wheat than I'm used to over the last couple weeks. I know when I do that my joints start to feel uncomfortable and I do feel bloated. When I lay off the wheat I start to feel better. So, from this point forward, no more wheat. This will be interesting to see if it is virus or wheat.

I know I have gained weight! I can feel it. I refuse to get on the scale right now. I need to get back on my badly neglected WW plan, again. I didn't even try to track during Hood to Coast, and in all honesty, you really can't. It is very hard to do that. But, admittedly, I also stopped tracking about a week before and ever since I've been back from Oregon.... :-D . Of course, I really didn't care to track before and during Irma!

I did go to my WW meeting last Sat. and I was up a little over 2 lbs. I'm actually relieved that was all. I know it is more now and I don't want to depress myself so I will just have a few good days on WW and then I will weigh.

As for my running times at Hood to Coast I was really pleased with what I saw. There is a system that one of the team members uses to predict more accurate finish times for each leg a runner has. But for it to be accurate you need to use your best and ideal conditions 10k time. Well, since I had lost almost 25lbs since my last race, which was a half marathon, I had no clue what my 10k, or any distance, time was anymore. So, all I had to go on was my summer training run times. Since I have been running a 10minute/mile average in the Florida summer weather that is what I had to use. He predicted my first leg to be at an 8:45 pace and my other two legs to be around 10:20. I was happy with that except I thought that first leg time was nutty since I can't run 5.23 miles that fast-even if it is downhill.

Turns out I apparently ran my first leg at a 7:50ish pace and the other two legs (6.23 miles and 5.3miles, respectively) around a 10 min/mile pace.  I was floored. I can't wait to see what it will be like to run 35lbs lighter than now!

Well, I'll leave you with a really neat pre-Irma sky photo I took. At least hurricanes can also bring some odd weather that can show some really unique and beautiful things that don't occur otherwise.

Pink sky with a rainbow...pre-Irma.

WOOPWOOP!!!

It's actually Friday.

Well, Hood to Coast Relay 2017 is in the Books. One week ago today we ran off the top of a volcano 199 miles to the coast of Orgon. May I just say, "WOW!" What an amazing experience. I met 6 new friends, the other half of our team from Oregon. What a great bunch of people.

Me and my team! Southeast by Northwest

I can't begin to describe what a life experiencing event this was. It took us 32+ hours to run from Mt Hood to Seaside, Oregon and in doing so learned so much about myself and my team mates. I learned what my strengths are and weaknesses and areas I could improve on.

 I saw so many funny things like the other teams' vans and how clever they were in decorating. Learned about funny and cute traditions that go on through the race.

The other runners were so nice. Even the elite runners were thoughtful enough to get in a quick "Good job"" or "You're doing great" as they flew by on fleet feet.

Mt. Hood from my plane window

I got to see breathtaking parts of Oregon that would have gone completely unnoticed if I had been in a car just whizzing by. I got to experience adventure, exhaustion, exhilaration, frustration and accomplishment! It was, in a word, AMAZING!

My first leg. Mt Hood.

I had so much fun. The weather was absolutely perfect for running in. It started at 48F for my first leg from the 4000 foot level on Mt. Hood. My friend kept me warm till the first runner reached me with the bracelet.


But once I got running the temperatures felt amazing. I think I didn't even sweat, lol.

Leg 2, through Portland

I think it was in the upper 70s to 80F (but dry) for my second leg through Portland. This was the hardest of the three for me. I think it is because I had only gotten about 5 hours sleep in the previous 42 hours due to travel and other frustrating circumstances before the race....part of the test! But I truly had fun, nonetheless!







It was in the 50s for my third night leg.

The night was so peaceful. I ran through rolling hills and past farms. Through the valleys of the road the fog was so dense I could barely make out the white paint on the edge of the road to guide me. There were parts of the road where the edge just dropped off into nothingness. It was a little unnerving with the dense fog.

Every breath out turned into a dense cloud of foggy condensation blocking my view as my head lamp lit it up. It was so quiet that only the rhythm of my foot steps and whisper of my breathing were heard to keep me company.

After my third leg! About 5am.

Oh, and what about my stick figure you ask? That was pretty cool. I didn't have enough reflective tape to do my thighs but it looked pretty good otherwise :-) .

The reflection was so bright it reflected internally in my camera lens, lol. Next time I will have the skirt and head element, too!













Would I do it again-oh heck yeah! We are all planning for next year, already, lol.

Woop Woop!!!!

TTFN!

9 DAYS!

Third Monday of the week.

Ok so, my running is getting back on track! Yay! My pace has been pretty good but my endurance seems to have taken a little hit. But today I went out for another 5 miler and while it felt like I was running in a sauna my strength and endurance feel like they are cooperating again. Talk about the 11th hour, jeez!

Went to physical therapy last week. My PT has given me very targeted strengthening  and stretching exercises to do. I really feel that between the rest and PT my hip is doing really well. My PT says he has seen this particular hip aggravation in many runners. Turns out my right hip is sooooo much weaker than my left. Its super weird. I thought I had strengthened it up but apparently NOT. So, this is my next goal...to make both hips do the same amount of work.

9 DAYS! 9DAYS TO HOOD TO COAST!

I am so excited. I'm so nervous, too. This is definitely a bucket list race for me. I am runner 2 of the 12. I get to start near the top of Mt Hood.

                                                                        I designed our team logo.

 Half our team comes from the southeast and half from the northwest so we cleverly call ourselves Southeast by Northwest. A play off the movie North by Northwest.

I get a night leg too, well actually the wee hours of the morning. Why am I happy about that? Because I am goofy. I ordered sew on reflective tape. I'm going to safety pin segments of the tape to my legs and arms in addition to the reflective vest we have to wear. I'm going to be a reflective running stick figure! LOL. Gotta figure out how to do the head....

 I know, I'm weird. But this is going to be so fun ;-)

TTFN

CURSES!

It actually Friday.

Well, it's been a long time since my last post. I've been busy getting ready for Hood to Coast! ....and frustrated because my training was utterly stopped about 4-5 weeks ago due to an aggravated hip. I kept trying to rest it a few days then go for a run and get stopped at about 2.5-3 miles because my hip would start hurting. Ugh!

Went to the Doc and he said it looked like a soft tissue problem and anti-inflammatories and rest were the best thing. I swear, for it to have been bothering me this long it must have been a tiny sprain or something.

I've been off it all together for about 2 weeks now. It's been feeling pretty good for this past week. I did swim laps earlier this week as a completely non impact way to get aerobics. Then a few days ago I tried the elliptical for 30 minutes. Felt pretty good the next day, too. So today I will try a small walk/jog to see what happens.

Did I mention this totally SUCKS???? Curses!

So, of course, I started stress eating and I haven't lost a lb since this hip thing stopped me. At least I haven't gained either but that is just another stress I don't need!

Well, I'll let you know how it goes.

TTFN

PR

Third Monday of the week.

Well, I PRd a 5k this week. I Ran a local 5k called the Melon Run on the 4th of July and finished it in 26:53. I'm pretty happy with that. I was hoping to be around 28:00 since that is about as fast as I could go before losing weight. The funny thing is, is it wasn't that hard. I was stunned to see the first mile marker when I did as I was guessing we had only run about a half mile. That was so weird.

I have been underestimating 3 things, I think. 1) the effects of weight loss, 2) the strength training I've been doing and 3) the training I've done by intentionally running on tired muscles, running in the heat and targeting hills.

Had another great weigh in last week, too. I lost 1.6lbs so I'm down 23.6lbs, now. Inching closer and closer to goal.

BUT, there's always a but...I have eaten poorly this week because of the holiday. I feel so bloated. I am considering not weighing in this week...I just don't want to see an uptick but I need to face the music, lol.

Well, today is stadium day. Oh how I hate stadium day. But this will also help me to atone for my bad eating. It is currently sunny, hot and feels hotter. It is 94 degrees but "feels like" 99! The humidity is gross. It's amazing how the humidity just makes it feel like you're wearing a sweater when you're working outside. It's not like dry heat where you can evaporate and cool. Nope, the sweat and water just stay on you and drip, drip, drip! No cooling. In fact, you have to wipe off your arms and face every so often to thin out the moisture on your skin so you can cool a little.

But, like I've said, it can only make me a better runner in the cool, dry weather.

Well, I'm gonna change into my run stuff, now, and get ready to melt.

TTFN